


Lelouch of the Risorgimento

by otblock57



Category: Code Geass
Genre: 1820s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Historical References, Italian Lelouch Lamperouge, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Politics, War, a bunch of history references in a trenchcoat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 80,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27210805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otblock57/pseuds/otblock57
Summary: The year is 1825, and Europe is a powderkeg. France has not taken Britain, but holds sway over continental Europe, over diverse nations that want to be free. At the same time, Lelouch vi Britannia rules in Britannian Sicily, and plans to use the rising tides of European nationalism to secure safety for himself and his sister- by unifying Italy, if necessary.ORThe batshit AU where Lelouch tries to unify Italy in 1820's Europe. An alternate timeline of Code Geass' alternate timeline.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	1. Timeline

**Author's Note:**

> Even by crazy fanfiction standards this is gonna be a weird one. I’m going to explain the timeline for this AU and my rough overall ideas for the story. I’m not going to mess with the weird imperial Britannian calendar so all dates are in normal calendar. There’s going to be a summary of this at the bottom if exposition isn’t your thing.

**17 th century: **(Point of Divergence from Code Geass Timeline) something like the IRL timeline involving the English Civil War takes place. Parliamentarian victory leads to the Commonwealth of England, and after the death of Oliver Cromwell, and a bastard son of the previous royal line is invited to take the throne, one Ricardo von Britannia.

**Early to mid 18 th century: **Things get closer to our original Code Geass timeline. Royal absolutism is restored and the Church of England becomes a tool for Britannian monarchs to increase their power and start the system of royal polygamy.

**1781** : George Washington is killed by shrapnel at Yorktown. The American Revolution is quickly swept up after this point, although the so called “Colonial Problem” of how to manage increasingly unhappy subjects is on many noble’s minds.

**1789:** The Bastille is stormed, the French Revolution begins in earnest.

**1799:** French forces form the Parthenopean Republic in the Two Sicilies, bringing French control down to the toe of Italy, and an invasion soon wins them Sicily. Sanfedist forces hoping to restore the King of Naples are brutally crushed and King Ferdinand IV of Naples is killed.

**1804:** Napoleon is crowned Emperor of France.

**1805:** The Battle of Trafalgar proves indecisive and incredibly destructive, and a storm that followed crushed both fleets involved to the point of making naval invasions almost impossible for both parties.

**1806:** Napoleon establishes continental system, and Sicilian separatists begin contacting the Britannian government in hopes of breaking free from French control and economic exploitation.

**1807:** With Napoleon’s forces tied up defending the Confederation of the Rhine and beating back the Fourth Coalition, Britannian forces are invited to seize Sicily and establish a Britannian governed Kingdom of Sicily ruled in personal union by Emperor Charles, in exchange for considerable sovereignty. The Peninsular war begins as France invades Iberia.

**1808:** Pro-monarchist Sicilians join the Britannian military, Britannia even allowing recruitment of women to bolster the defenses of the island, incapable of devoting too many resources to it. A young Sicilian woman named Marianne has such talent she is eventually invited to London to potentially join the Royal Guard, and Emperor Charles does his thing.

**1809:** Lelouch vi Britannia is born in the royal court, and Emperor Charles sees an opportunity to secure his holdings in Sicily, and sends the boy to be raised in by his mother in Italy. France crushes Iberian resistance and signs a peace with Britannia, ceding Sicily and previously Dutch colonial lands in exchange for an end to Britannian interference on the continent.

**1810:** Russia declares war on the French, anxious to put an end to the revolution and to strangle Polish nationalism in its cradle by crushing the French Duchy of Warsaw. Austria and Russia join forces to do battle with France, and Spanish colonial territories begin to break free.

**1812:** After another rendezvous with Charles, Marianne gives birth to Nunnally. Britannian forces seize the moment and begin wars to annex ex-Spanish and Portuguese colonial possessions. Britannian positions in east Asia are reorganized under the Ashford Indies Company, including previously Portuguese Macau and Dutch Dejima, a trade settlement in Nagasaki.

**1813:** Napoleon wins at Leipzig, but realizes that the French Army is too small to press an offensive. He negotiates at the Treaty of Prague and guarantees a peace to secure his new holdings, as well as fair territorial gains. The French Empire stretches from Iberia (discounting Gibraltar) to Poland.

**1814:** Austria rebrands as the Empire of the Danube, and plots with the Ottoman Empire to prevent further French encroachment into the Balkans.

**1819:** Marianne is assassinated while visiting the Britannian Court, and Nunnally is crippled by shot and blinded by the trauma. Lelouch confronts his father but concedes before he can be banished. He is sent back to Sicily, escorted by one of his mother’s guards, Jeremiah Gottwald.

**1820:** The Ashford Indies Company collapses without support from Marianne.

**1821:** Napoleon falls ill with an unknown disease and his condition deteriorates rapidly. One of his last orders before a regency is declared is to cripple the power of French puppet states and balkanize them to prevent revolt.

**1822:** The Senate takes control of day to day operations of France, but cannot decide on a successor to Bonaparte.

**1824:** Lelouch begins to take control in Sicily, advised by Gottwald.

**1825:** Greece declares independence, France joins them in fighting the Ottoman and Danubian Empires. The modern day.

**The world at a glance:** Britannia has colonial hegemony in the New World, and has a massive lead in seizing land in Asia and Africa, and can project influence into the Mediterranean through Gibraltar and Sicily. France rules great portions of continental Europe, but the death of the bed-ridden Emperor Napoleon could send it flying into chaos, as nationalism simmers just beneath the surface, and the French generals doing battle against the Turks and Danubians cannot match Napoleon’s skill. Britannian forces are largely focused in their new colonial holdings and in India, where Britannia looks hungrily in all directions, at Indochina, Afghanistan, Persia, and even China herself. The Industrial Revolution has begun in earnest, and Britannia hopes to keep the secrets of such inventors as the eccentric Earl Asplund to themselves.

**Italy itself:** All of Italy, discounting Sicily, is in the French sphere of influence, from the Alps to Calabria, and parts of Italy are ruled by France directly, such as Savoy and Rome, while the rest is puppet states. The Pope has limited sovereignty and rules in just the Vatican. French rule has fomented nationalism, and the peninsula seems primed to revolt, like many other portions of the French Empire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… what the hell was all that for, you may wonder? This is an extremely bizarre story idea of mine. Instead of being Lelouch of the Rebellion, liberator of Japan, this Lelouch will be of the Risorgimento, unifier of Italy. Or at least, that’s one of his goals. If you didn’t know, the Risorgimento was the process of Italian unification, and you can see how the stage is set. I know this idea is basically going to be long form crack fic, but I don’t really care.
> 
> TL;DR: Code Geass AU where England wasn’t invaded by France, although France still rules much of the European continent. Napoleon’s just about to die, which will probably throw France into chaos, and Lelouch, the ruler of Britannian Sicily (the island off the coast of southern Italy, basically the thing the Italian boot is kicking), hopes to exploit such an opening to unify Italy, alongside usual Lelouch scheming. Expect a focus on Lelouch, military stuff, possibly not much Geass, hopefully a little like Lelouch of Britannia? (but of lower quality, in all likelihood)
> 
> …. Sounds crazy now that I wrote it all down, actually.


	2. Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope I don’t fuck the Italian culture up. If I get anything wrong, tell me. I would prefer to go back and edit a chapter than spread misinformation. Be sure to read the first chapter, or this AU will make approximately 0 sense. The year is currently 1825, the day is May the 5th.

Lelouch carefully peeled the blood orange, pulling the orange skin off the red flesh before passing it to his sister, Nunnally. Her smile was infectious, and Lelouch couldn’t help but grin as well when he leaned back in his seat and gazed out over Palermo- his city, he supposed.

He and Nunnally lived in what would have once been called the Norman Palace, a castle that loomed above the city of Palermo, a testament to the many conquerors who seized Sicily for their own. The Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Spanish, and now the Britannians. Lelouch knew full well that while he and Nunnally were liked by the Sicilian population, he was just one of many foreign rulers, just a few missteps away from his own War of the Vespers . Although he would be willing to fight to keep Sicily, he knew he couldn’t guarantee Nunnally’s safety if the people turned against him. That was the issue, he supposed. In danger in Sicily and in danger in the Imperial Capital.

The two siblings were half Sicilian, and their mother was born and raised here, and while this won them cooperation from the Sicilian people, he knew that the Britannian nobility abhorred them for their Italian blood and their commoner mother. The Italians seemed to accept them more the Britannians, and he was very grateful to the people for that. He liked the people and he liked the city- its bustling markets and the rows upon rows of tiled roofs that hid so much history between and under them. He’d walk among the streets sometimes (with Jeremiah as an escort, of course. He was no fool.) and just talk to the people, a rugged, hearty folk who retained fairly optimistic despite the French looming, at their closest, just over 3 kilometers from their shores. Or perhaps they were simply assured they would survive the French if they came, the same way so many cultures influenced Sicily but never destroyed her. The Britannian administration certainly wouldn’t be any different, especially considering how the only Britannians ruling the country were Lelouch and Jeremiah.

Lelouch also knew that he lived in something of a backwater, all things considered. Sicily was certainly a beautiful country, but Lelouch knew that its value to the Britannian government was an oversized dockyard that just happened to have oranges to fight scurvy. His siblings ruled in other parts of the Empire, in viceregal complexes from the Cape of Good Hope to Mexico City to Quebec. Odysseus was off in Brazil, courting the ex-Portuguese nobility, Cornelia was leading an expedition into Persia with hopes of seizing Tehran within the year, and Schneizel was the Emperor’s right hand, managing a delicate political dance to keep the Emperor of All Russia and his cossacks from charging into Persia from the north.

Despite the lack of glamour his post held, Lelouch knew that his chance was coming: his chance to restore a proper place for himself in the Britannian court, and the safety that would mean for Nunnally. When the Emperor of France died, he hoped to harness the great movement sweeping through Italy, the Risorgimento, and secure all the resources of the peninsula, if that’s what he needed to keep his sister safe from the vultures of the Imperial Britannian Court. Uniting all the Italians would just be a happy side effect of the process, and so he bided his time, receiving newspapers and reading the literary journals of influential thinkers all across Italy. The time would come, Lelouch was sure.

\------

Lelouch realized the danger of his position when he saw his mother’s blood dripping down the steps of the Aries Villa, and understood that no one would be there to support him but himself when he confronted his father. He supposed Gottwald was an exception, but he had no allies in the capital, and his mother’s supporters, the Ashfords, were a shadow of their former power and influence, when they held sway of all Britannian trade east of India, from Malacca to China. All the Ashfords had now was Dejima, an island off the coast of far-flung Japan, where they managed a few warehouses and a school for the children of Britannian traders in the region. They had also recommended a house servant for them- a woman named Sayoko Shinozaki, who was so far from Britannia they were practically assured she wasn’t an agent for some party who wished to end the legacy of the Commoner Empress once and for all.

He had been ruling, or at least helped in ruling, Sicily for the past year now, and it was as fair as a country as any. It practically ran itself, given all the rights and privileges it demanded from Britannia, complete with an actual, bona fide parliament that could check the monarch’s power! Of course, that was a problem that could be solved with that proud Britannian strategy, bribery. With a council full of milquetoast pencil pushers running the day to day business of the country but getting out of his way when it came to anything important (not that he didn’t check carefully to prevent graft. He may have tolerated corruption if it gave him the power he needed, but he was trying to run a political machine here!), like the army.

The Sicilian Army was in a poor state when he first came to power, not a professional military of the sort Britannia was so proud of or even the great mass of the French Grand Armee, but instead a mere peasant rabble armed with muskets and rifles who were enthusiastic, but no match for Emperor Bonaparte’s armies who waited just across the Strait of Messina. His first objective was to reform the army, with help from Jeremiah, until it could hold its own.

Offering good pay and lunch every day for every man who enlisted, Jeremiah could scrape together a grand total of 3,000 willing men who were fit enough to fight in Palermo, and after thousands of men died in the Army of the Holy Faith which attempted to restore the old King of the Two Sicilies considerably dampened military enthusiasm.. Lelouch had 3,000 men. Bonaparte commanded 685,000 at his height, Cornelia was leading a corps of 36,000 to crush the Shah of Persia, and Lelouch had 3,000 men. Winning against France in its current state with that many men was laughable, even if many soldiers were tied up garrisoning their conquests, and despite the fact they had lost many men in their recent campaigns.

At the very least, Sicily had a considerable fleet and merchant marine, more than enough to move his army around should the need ever arise.

\------

“Tell me, Jeremiah, what do you think of the army?”

“They’re certainly not the worst men I’ve ever trained, many of them seem to have experience with hunting, but shooting deer and shooting men are two different things.”

“Well, we’ll make the best of what we have.” Lelouch was musing about how he could use his 3,000 men most efficiently, when he was informed of a visitor from the Britannian homeland. “To whom do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m Earl Asplund, and I’d like to know if you would like to cooperate with me. I think our interests are aligned, in some ways.” The woman behind him coughed. “…. your highness.”

“Well, what do you have for me, Earl Asplund?”

With a rather bombastic gesture, he pulled out a bullet from one of his pockets, but unlike most it was not a simple ball of lead but instead an almost conical shape, with a hollow in the base.

“Quite an unusual bullet you’ve got there.”

“Have you ever fired a rifle before, not a musket?”

“On occasion.”

“You know that the main issue with rifles is loading them quickly?” Lelouch nodded, his brow quirked. “This little bullet expands when the powder blows behind it, allowing the rifling to spin the bullet without having to jam the bullet into the barrel.”

“Remarkable. And you’ll provide these bullets for me?”

“Of course!”

\------

After employing the man for a while, Lelouch realized why he may have needed to come to Sicily to find gainful employment, because no one else seemed to have wanted him. In all honesty, the little bullets that he dubbed Asplund Balls were enough reason to keep the man around even if he didn’t come up with much else of value. His assistant, Mrs Croomy, was pleasant enough, but the poor woman was clearly running herself ragged trying to keep the man alive as he fiddled with his steam engines and chemicals.

With help from Lloyd they had begun primitive mass production of the Asplund Balls, and he was more than willing to share designs for the complex machinery which filled the factories of Britannia proper. Lelouch was very enthusiastic about the factories, but knew they’d take a while to pan out. That was fine though, Lelouch could wait.

Asplund also showed him plans for a sort of self driven rail-car that ran on rails of the type used in iron and steel mines, and a complex machine to process enough steel for those rails. Fortunately, Sicily was full of unlanded peasantry who were more than happy to get any work, including assisting Asplund’s schemes, or mining sulfur to produce gunpowder. Changing times indeed.

\------

As usual, Sayoko came every morning with bundles of newspapers, from printers as far flung as Paris to the Mantua and Parma Gazettes. Unfortunately they were frequently a few days old, but there was no way to get news of an event instantly. Or perhaps there was, he mused. He’d have to ask Asplund what he could do about the situation.

Unfolding one of the papers, he received some good news.

_GREECE REVOLTS, FRANCE COMES TO HER AID_

_The Greeks have revolted and established the First Hellenic Republic in Athens, revolting against their Turkish overlords. The French Empire has joined the conflict as well, hoping to secure “the freedom of the smaller nations of the world”. The Empire of the Danube also joined the war, in order to prevent further French encroachment into the Balkans. This seems to be the logical conclusion of months of skirmishing between French forces and the armies of the Danube and the Turks._

_Reports are already coming in of small battles between the French Army of Italy and the Austrian Imperial army near Venice, and ships have already begun blockading north Italian ports._

Nunnally turned when she heard him opening the paper, and Lelouch read aloud for her, as Sayoko listened in. “What do you think of this, big brother?”

“I expect this war will be a long one, Nunnally. Without a talent like Napoleon at their head the war will likely stretch, which will give the Turks time to raise armies from their more far flung territories: Mesopotamia, Tripoli, Egypt.”

Nunnally frowned. “I understand why everyone’s fighting… but all this bloodshed seems so unfortunate.”

\------

Meanwhile, some 900 miles away, an aging Corsican breathes his last, having finally lost his struggle against stomach cancer. His son weeps, and starts making preparations for his father’s affairs, knowing full well that everything he worked for might crumble.

\------

_BONAPARTE DEAD, DEADLOCK IN THE SENATE_

_Just days after the French joined the war of Greek Independence, Emperor Napoleon breathed his last on the 5 th of May, 1825. He is survived by his son, Napoleon II, King of Rome, although the stance of the French Senate on who would succeed the Emperor._

_More radicals elements called for an end to the monarchy altogether, while others called for Napoleon II or even an elected monarch to rule as Emperor. Reports of fighting in the streets of Paris and even a fistfight in the Senate are spreading, and this raises concerns about Marshal Murat’s campaign in Greece. With turmoil at home, the Greek War of Independence may turn out in the Turk’s favor._

_\------_

Lelouch could scarcely believe it when he first read the papers. Napoleon was dead and France was already beginning to descend into chaos, and this paper is already several days old. He needed to start moving now. He shoved back his chair with a screech and called for Jeremiah.

Nunnally frowned. “What’s the matter, big brother?”

“Emperor Napoleon is dead, and he has no designated successor.”

“Does that mean civil war in France?”

“Most likely. I’ll be working with Jeremiah to make sure Sicily’s army is up to scratch.”

\------

“Your Highness-”

“Bonaparte is dead.”

Jeremiah’s eyes widened, but he remained composed. “What are your plans, your majesty?”

“We gather the army, prepare the ships, and wait for an opportunity. We cannot strike until Italy revolts, for fear of starting a full-fledged war between France and Britannia.”

“And Italy will revolt?”

Lelouch grinned. “Napoleon’s house of cards is caving in, Jeremiah. It’s only a matter of time.”

\------

_FLOREAL MASSACRE_

_Late on the night of the 21_ _st_ _of Floreal, a group of Parisians were protesting outside the Senate Building, calling for an end to the interregnum after the death of Emperor Napoleon and the immediate coronation of Napoleon II as Emperor. Soldiers stationed to defend the Senate attempted to pacify the crowds, but eventually a shot rang out and fighting began in earnest. No one can say who started the conflict for certain, but the blood flowing on the cobbles was undeniable._

_Prince Napoleon and the radical_ _Nouveaux_ _Montagnard_ _s_ _faction have both blamed_ _each other for the outbreak of violence, and have both gathered armies. The country seems poised on the brink of civil war…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it begins. I hope to hop back and forth between this and my other in progress fic. I hope that this fic is high up on the list of “Weird-ass AUs”. The historical research is actually kind of interesting, all things considered. This is such an interesting time period even normally, much less in the Code Geass-verse. I expect very little if any Geass shenanigans. C.C. is probably out there, but I’m imagining she was betting on Napoleon being the one to put her out of misery.


	3. Beware Whoever Touches It

_THE SECOND NAPOLEON FLEES FROM PARIS_

_Napoleon II, claimant to the throne of France, has fled from Paris to southern France along with supporters from the Senate, to gather an army to press his claim on the throne. Reports of attempts on his life by radical republicans have surfaced, although whether they are true attempts by the Senate in Paris to end Bonaparte’s legacy or a smear campaign by Bonaparte II remains unclear._

\------

Sicily was filled with even more activity than usual, with soldiers marching through the streets, their footsteps echoing like gunshots, rifles on their shoulders. Though small in numbers, the Sicilian army was armed with rifles as opposed to muskets and quite a few rifled cannons pulled by horses. The men were alert, their boats were prepared at the docks, and Lelouch could feel a warm sirocco wind blowing up from the Barbary coast, urging him to sail north, to destiny. His contacts had given him news of major unrest in Liguria, and they would sail within in the day.

He was loath to leave Nunnally alone, but she was smart enough to look after Sicily in his and Jeremiah’s absence. Part of the reason he decided to raise so few men from Palermo and not take many others from Sicily was manifold, including keeping Sicily calm and well garrisoned in his absence, so that his gentle sister didn’t have to put down revolting peasantry, and to keep the workshops and sulfur mines running properly so his campaign did not run low on powder or shot.

Lelouch also had a more aesthetic reason to keep his army so small: while they were all Sicilian, they would be in some way tainted by Britannian occupation, seen as foreign agents of the Britannian crown. The more volunteers he got from French Italy, the better his army would look to the people. It would be a delicate dance to keep his Britannian and Italian traits in balance- too much kowtowing to London would keep him from unifying Italy in the first place, or leave the country stunted by revolts; however, if he gave too much to the Italians he would have to worry about Britannia coming in and clamping down on Italy.

\------

A pair of French gendarmes patrolled the streets of Milan, sabers rattling at their hips as the moon hung in the sky, full and pale. Many Italian cities under French control had seethed with unrest, and they had heard it was even worse in cities directly controlled by France like Genoa, Florence, and Turin, although the Pope had calmed unrest in Rome. Fortunately, things had seemed to simmer down in the past few days, although their captain was worried the Italians were plotting something.

They barely even heard the shots before the bullets entered their skulls.

\------

After three days of sailing, Lelouch could see Genoa in the distance, the harbor full of ships gently gliding across the blue sea. From this distance, Lelouch was confident that his ships looked as innocuous as the sloops in the harbor, just instead of being loaded with merchandise they were loaded with men and materiel of war. In times like these, ships with many gunports weren’t seen as suspect, especially when they flew the French Tricolore (fakes, obviously).

The wind was good and the ships of the fleet managed to get to the quays under their own power without stopping for tugboats. If he believed in such things, Lelouch supposed that may have been a good omen.

The French Tricolore still flew above the harbors, although he could see no Gendarmes or soldiery within the immediate area. He leaned over towards Jeremiah. “Prepare the men to disembark. I’ll look around.”

Lelouch see a nearby stevedore, and gestured him over.

“Was there something you needed, signore?”

“I was wondering… how are things in Genoa? I have not gotten much news at sea, you know?”

The man looked nervous, and leaned towards Lelouch, “Unless you’ve got urgent business, I recommend you sail away signore. There’s violence and chaos in the streets. You’ll make no profit here, I assure you.”

Lelouch grinned. “I’ll tell the crews. Thank you.”

He climbed back aboard and gave Jeremiah a nod of approval, and the man gave a fierce grin.

He caught a glimpse of the same stevedore’s expression transforming into one of horror as row after row of men in blood red vests marched from the ships, rifles over their soldiers.

\------

The Doge’s Palace was within a surprisingly short walk, and they met no resistance as the men marched in lockstep down the streets. No true Genoese doge had lived in the palace for nearly thirty years, although the French departmental council did rule the region from the palace. He realized very quickly why he didn’t see any French soldiers near the docks, as they were occupied in fortifying the palace, stacking sandbags and blocking up shattered windows. They seemed stunned by the sudden arrival of the three thousand, and Lelouch seized the moment, shouting “Take the palace!”, and the street broke into chaos.

Few of the gendarmes were armed, and they fell to the ground as several hundred men fired their accurate rifles at once. Sicilian soldiers charged the door, slamming into it with rifle butts and forcing it open, bayonets flashing in the air. Boots crushed the shattered glass of the windows, and the French defenders fell back in a panic, hardly expecting another attack so soon, much less one by a professional army and not a rabble.

\------

The floors of the Doge’s palace may have been stained with blood, but very little of it was Sicilian. Genoa was his with nothing more than a few scrapes or bruises for his men. The men went about fortifying the palace, and Lelouch prepared himself to address the concerned figures he could already see gathering in the Piazza dei Ferrari.

\------

With Jeremiah by his side, he walked outside to see throngs of people mulling in the plaza, and they fell silent when he approached.

“People of Genoa! My name is Lelouch Lamperouge, and I am viceroy of Sicily! After hearing about the chaos in the French government, I have come to free Italy from the tyrannical grip of the French, who claim to be liberators but simply crush the world underfoot! As Viceroy of Sicily, I declare the Duchy of Genoa, and call all able-bodied men, not Genoese men, but all Italian men to join me in freeing Italy from those that would subdue her, to unite the peninsula at long last! Long live the Risorgimento! Long live Italy!”

The crowd cheered, and Lelouch gave a grin. Things were going as planned for now.

\------

The newly dubbed Duchy of Genoa was in many way like his home in Sicily. Self determining, with a parliament handling day to day life while Lelouch handled the military. And what a military it was. Overnight, the army of the Risorgimento swelled, with 8,000 Genoese men joining.

Lelouch was pleased to finally read a newspaper within a day of its printing, instead of waiting days or weeks for it to reach Sicily, and he knew that any attempts to slow the spread of his attack would be impossible. He was on a timer now, and he needed to pick up steam before either French faction, either pro-Napoleonic or pro-Senate swept him up, but large portions of the French army were tied up in the Balkans under the Marshal Murat.

_THE DUCHY OF GENOA!_

_While France was already struggling from conflict both internal and external, another complication has appeared in the form of Lelouch Lamperouge (also known as Lelouch vi Britannia), the Britannian viceroy of Sicily, who has landed in Genoa and declared a brand new Duchy of Genoa, seemingly under the governance of the Kingdom of Sicily. He has proclaimed the Risorgimento and declared his intent to unite Italy and free it from French rule. His next move remains unknown, but he seems primed to exploit civil unrest throughout French Italy._

\------

The Genoese seemed very happy to be ruled by someone even half Italian, and with a port secured Lelouch sent his fleet back, to acquire more supplies for the thousands of new men in the army of the Risorgimento. The Sicilian 3,000 were well equipped and the closest Lelouch had to veterans, in contrast the 8,000 new volunteers he picked up were poorly equipped and while there was an occasional ex-soldier, many were just excited young men with no experience. Lelouch’s next stop was Milan, not just to pick up more enthusiastic young men from urban centers, but because it was a stop on the way to the town of Monza, which held a cathedral of some importance.

However, he also knew that he couldn’t just leave his back flank uncovered, and decided to order Jeremiah to take half of the army to seize Turin, which lay to the northwest of Genoa as opposed to the more northeastern Milan. Lelouch was loath to separate from one of his most loyal men, but trusted no one else to command such a mass of soldiers.

“Jeremiah?”

“Your highness?’

“You know of Turin? In Savoy? You shall take half of the army, 1,500 of our Sicilians and 4,000 of the Genoese, and seize it, and set up watches in the Alps. I will have no crossing of the Alps interrupt my plans, or at least I refuse to be caught off guard like the Romans when Hannibal crossed into Cisalpine Gaul. Napoleon did it, one of his successors might try it. Return to Genoa afterwards. I will be taking Milan, and I will meet you there once I have handled some business.”  
  


“Your highness, I should accompany you at all times-”

“We have no time to loose, Jeremiah. It could take more than a month for us to take just one of the two cities and return to Genoa, and speed is critical.”

Jeremiah sighed. “Yes, your highness.”

\------

The army was a little slower than usual, with all the fresh new volunteers, and the long train of carriages laden down with rifled guns and supplies did not help matters. What cities lay between Genoa and the Po surrendered without issue, and they crossed the Po within 10 days of leaving Genoa, although a few hundred men larger when they left.

Milan was incredibly important as a center of French administration in Italy, where Napoleon I was crowned King of Italy two decades previously and where said puppet kingdom was ruled from. The Kingdom had been dismembered as per one of Napoleon’s final decrees, but it remained one of the most important cities in Italy, capital of the French puppet state of Lombardy.

Lelouch first reached Milan a fortnight after leaving Genoa; although the first sign of the famed city was plumes of smoke from the north, and when Milan itself became visible he could see fires and fighting near the walls of the city’s castle, Castle Sforza. It seemed that French garrisons had fallen back to try to hold the castle, as the Milanese tried to take it, with little success, seeing as they had no siege pieces to bombard the 300 year old castle with.

However, Lelouch most certainly had cannons, rifled cannons even, and he was happy to help… liberate Milan. Upon seeing the Sicilian flag his men flew, the gates of the city were opened, and Lelouch found himself riding through the streets of another storied city. The story of the Ambrosian Republic came to Lelouch’s mind, where a succession crisis caused the city to become a republic, only for a defection by an ally of theirs (the very same Sforza who built the now besieged castle, in fact) to revert the city back to a duchy. How fitting, Lelouch mused, his horse trotting towards the castle as he carefully looked for a place to position his cannon.

\------

A bombardment from the guns did the trick, turning the gate into rubble and allowing a wave of infantry, both Milanese and Lelouch’s soldiers, to charge inside and defeat the French garrison in a chaotic melee.

When the battle had ended, nearly 500 men of the Risorgimento lay dead in and around the castle, although one of the greatest cities of Italy had joined the ranks of the unification, and Lelouch declared the Duchy of Milan and made another call for Italian unification before taking his army on a quick trip to a town to northeast of Milan named Monza.

The town was definitely not as major as Milan, it did have a very notable cathedral, or at least a cathedral that held an object of interest. Upon hearing the news of Milanese surrender, Monza surrendered to Lelouch without trouble, and the authorities were more than happy to show him to Cathedral, and were more than happy to give him the relic, after a careful reminder of just whose army they were hosting.

It was a circlet of gold, studded with garnets and sapphires, and a thin ring of a silver material ran around the inside. It was the Iron Crown of Lombardy, named for that interior band, supposedly formed from a nail from the cross Christ was crucified upon. Lelouch honestly didn’t buy it (if it was iron, several hundred year old iron in fact, why didn’t it rust?) but taking the crown gave him a certain appearance of being a legitimate ruler of all Italy. The supposed holiness of the relic also related to another issue he knew he would have to focus on soon: religion.

Lelouch was never really a believer in the Anglican Church, despite his father being the head of it, but he realized that presenting a pious appearance helped pacify the masses. He suspected that at the very least his father and his sister Cornelia were closet atheists, and even if Lelouch was a believer, he would gladly damn himself for Nunnally’s safety. Perhaps that made him a bad Christian, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

However, he knew that there was always going to be some friction between him and his Italian subjects unless he converted to Catholicism eventually. He supposed he was going to meet the Pope soon, when his campaigns reached Rome, and if he was going to convert why not do with the help of the Pope? It would certainly help his image.

\------

Emperor Charles was no fool, he knew his son Lelouch was plotting something in Sicily, but he was far too curious to stop the boy. So few of his children lived up to his expectations, but Lelouch was certainly one of them, cunning and bold in equal measure. He knew that Lelouch was gathering an army armed with weapons from that eccentric, Asplund, but other than perhaps Scneizel and Cornelia none of his other children showed an ounce of initiative.

Whatever he was expecting, opening a newspaper from the continent and reading that his son had taken over Genoa was not it. He had figured Lelouch was preparing for something small, perhaps a campaign in North Africa while the Turks were distracted, but never an attack on France. The sheer opportunism of the move impressed Charles, and it reminded him very much of Lelouch’s mother, Marianne, so daring and unexpected.

\------

Jeremiah also thought of Marianne as left Turin behind him, heading to Genoa and fervently hoping that Marianne’s boy still lived, despite only having been separated from him for a few days more than two weeks.

Jeremiah had never fully understood Lelouch’s passion about seeing Italy unified, but he supposed that he simply wasn’t Italian. However, he sensed that Lelouch was doing it for more than just political ideals, to protect his sister with the strength of a country or restore his status in the imperial court? He couldn’t answer with certainty, but Jeremiah would stand by his side for the entire way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that’s another chapter. The events of this one took a heavy cue from Garibaldi’s expedition of the Thousand, where a group of volunteers sailed from Sardinia and landed in Sicily to take over Naples. In Lelouch’s case it’s practically the other way around. The timeline is kind of vague, I admit, but the Floreal massacre which started the French unrest last time was May 10th, and reached Lelouch around a week later, with about a three day trip meaning Lelouch lands around the 21st. A bit over two weeks of marching brings us to June 6th. The French will react in time, but it’s basically been about two weeks. I tried to explain a bit more of the history this time, and tried out more diverse perspectives. Tell me what you think! Chapter title is based on a quote from Napoleon when he got the Iron Crown, "God gives it to me, beware whoever touches it" but I think Lelouch can handle it. Tell me what you think!


	4. Your Enemy's Mistake

News of the seizure of Genoa spread like wildfire through the imperial court, although the stigma of Lelouch's near banishment and shame in front of the court hung around his name like a miasma. The upper crust of Britannian society tutted and tisked as the Eleventh Prince of Britannia fell into the trap of populism that had swallowed up the continent and inflamed the French, although a few members of the imperial family considered that it could be an elaborate plan to get into the Emperor's good graces.

At the same time, covert cells met throughout London, discussing the seizure of Genoa by what was widely considered the most liberal portion of the Britannian Empire. Very few of the clubs actually wanted to overthrow the Britannian monarchy like the radicals in France, and Prince Lelouch's campaign in Italy showed a tempting possibility: a Britannian ruled constitutional monarchy where men weren't crushed under the royal yoke of the court in London. Of course, said monarchy was in the Mediterranean, but plans were laid by candlelight deep in the boroughs of London, then Cardiff, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Dublin and Belfast.

In a strange mix of both groups, Reuben Ashford and his granddaughter Milly prepared to travel to Italy. The two had originally planned to visit the vi Britannias while in Europe on business, although Lelouch's sudden invasion of Italy urged them both towards Italy with greater speed than before, and for more than just sentimental reasons. It may have been cold, but Reuben recognized the potential to restore the power and status of the Ashford family by getting in on the ground floor of Lelouch's conquest of Italy.

\------

Across the channel, the French Senate debated the issue of Lelouch's invasion of Italy, and their response. Of course, marshaling an army would be the usual solution, and efforts were well underway to raise new brigades and reinforce the current Republican Army; however, the civil war that France had fallen into, as well as their engagements in Greece, complicated things greatly.

"If the Britannian invaders and Bonaparte meet in battle, then we stand to gain! Leave the Sicilian Prince be!"

"He's already been reinforced by men from Genoa! If we let him grow too strong, he will swallow Italy whole and return it to monarchist control!"

"As hesitant as I am to say it, could we negotiate with the Britannian Emperor? Get him to bring his wild dog of a son to heel!"

"What leverage do we have, you fool? Charles zi Britannia has every reason to sit back and let his boy take Italy, if he can manage it. France is already at war with the Turks and Danubians, along with herself! Why add Britannia to the list through some foolish threat?"

"And what if the Sicilian simply doesn't listen? He's as Italian as he is Britannian! He could take Italy as his own and drop Sicily back into Britannian hands, if he pleased! If Charles used force to stop the boy we'd be inviting Britannia into France! Why not influence the civil war and support Bonaparte, while his men march through France?"

\------

Schneizel was in St. Petersburg, desperately trying to keep Tsar Alexander at piece with Britannia as Cornelia did battle in Persia. At least at first, Britannia had hoped to take land from Persia, but the Tsar had prickled at the idea of greater Britannian influence in Asia, and high hopes of annexation had cooled into a commercial treaty, concessions, and the installation of a Shah friendlier to both Britannian and Russian interests.

News from Europe took a while to travel through the Baltic Sea and reach St. Petersburg, but he heard murmuring of chaos and unrest in France after the death of the Emperor Napoleon. Schneizel felt that the only thing keeping Alexander in check was the threat of Napoleon's military prowess, and he predicted an invasion of the Duchy of Warsaw within a few years.

Lelouch's exploits in Italy reinforced this belief, although Schneizel would keep his ear close to the ground. It was frustrating to be so far from the action in Europe, but Schneizel's obligations kept him in Saint Petersburg, even as the Russian Bear reared to strike at France from the east, to compound on wars from several fronts and from within.

\------

Jeremiah and Lelouch met shortly over a month after his departure, each army strengthened by volunteers- 6,500 or so from Turin and her surrounding and 8,000 from Milan, leading to the Army of the Risorgimento having some 25,000 men and 50 rifled guns from Sicily, resupplied by with ammunition from home as well.

It was early June, and Lelouch's next destination for the army was Tuscany, where he would seize Lucca and Florence before marching to Rome herself, to parley with the Pope. Hammering out a deal with the Pope would be difficult, and Lelouch did not like the idea of converting to Catholicism only to get excommunicated for taking over the city of Rome as his own. It would take half a month to reach Lucca, as things were looking.

\------

As Lelouch marched south, thousands of French soldiers who had previously garrisoned Italian cities marched towards Rome, consolidating under the first Napoleon's stepson, Eugene de Beauharnais, the Viceroy of Italy. 35,000 men had consolidated near Rome, and Beauharnais planned to march and meet the Sicilian Prince near Siena, stopping him before he could reach Rome, at least.

Beauharnais knew the battle would prove decisive, as he had no real chance of reinforcements if things went badly. He couldn't predict how skilled this vi Britannia was, but the prince must have been confident to invade Italy with a mere 3,000 men. He hoped that it was just royal arrogance, but even he knew that some of the royal Britannian children were very skilled- like that witch of a woman, Cornelia.

\------

_INFANTE CARLOS ESCAPES_

_In yet another setback to the French efforts, Infante Carlos of Spain has escaped his imprisonment in Valencay, aided by Spanish separatists. His elder brother Ferdinand died in prison, and Carlos is likely being spirited to Spain. The prince had been imprisoned for some 17 years before his escape, and he still maintains his claim on the Spanish throne due to divine right. This may mark the beginning of revolts in Iberia, compounding on chaos in France and Italy._

\------

Republican and Bonapartist forces first met outside the town of Vichy, when scouting parties from both forces met in rolling farmland, and once the chaotic cavalry battle had calmed both sides moved forces to meet the enemy, with the Republicans fortifying on top of a hill, placing dozens of cannons which could fire over the farmland, accompanied by near 21,000 infantry.

The first day of battle was relatively peaceful, as Bonapartist forces arrived and camped in the dense forest that made up the edges of the farmland, keeping far away from the guns which promised certain destruction if a charge was made across the flat farmland. 33,000 men supported the Bonapartist army, but they couldn't bring as much artillery to bear without them being destroyed by entrenched Republican guns.

On the second day of battle, a detachment from the Bonapartists crept through the woods to the west of the Republicans, moving while the two forces exchanged a furious barrage of shot over the farmland, smoke billowing across the fields of wheat and bouncing cannonballs tearing furrows through the fields. When the Republican guns fell silent, the flanking force of 16,000 charged, just over 200 meters away, bayonets gleaming as they crossed the fields.

The infantry began to slow and clump as they climbed the hill, harried by shot from the main Republican forces as the gunners turned their guns in a panic, and while they could only fire once before the two forces meet in a melee, rounds of canister shot tore through the Bonapartists at point blank range, killing hundreds. At the same time, the remaining 17,000 Bonapartists charged, although they would have to cover nearly the twice the distance of their comrade's charge.

However, not all of the Republican guns had fired at the first charge, and turned to meet the second as the Republican western flank descended into chaos, bayonets clashing as the attackers desperately tried to clamber over a stone wall the Republicans hid behind, nearly invisible at a distance because it was so choked with ivy.

The flanking detachment began to evaporate under the hot June sun, sending panic through the remainder of their forces as Republican cannons killed men by the column. Realizing that meeting the Republicans in force on the ridge would only result in disaster, the Bonapartist general called a retreat as his forces fled to the south, leaving 1,500 Republican dead behind him, along with nearly 12,000 of his own men. The battle of Crechy, as it would be called, almost immediately gave the Republicans a massive advantage in the civil war.

\------

Tuscany was a beautiful country, its rolling hills hiding miles of olive orchards and vineyards, although the grapes had not grown in size yet. Lelouch almost feel some of his "eager volunteers" sloughing off the main army, but his personal Sicilian guard remained steadfast as they marched towards Lucca.

Lucca was, like many cities in Italy, as old as the Roman Empire, and its walls were going to be a serious obstacle- if anyone was defending them, that is. As the army of the Risorgimento entered Lucca, they met no resistance, and the leader of the city invited Lelouch to talk with him.

"You noticed the lack of a garrison, signore?"

"Yes, of course. It was a pleasant surprise, not to have to take Lucca by force, but I figure this means the French are gathering for a confrontation?"

"Yes. I know little other than the fact that they marched to Rome under orders of Beauharnais."

Lelouch nodded. He wasn't expecting free reign over Italy, and this would be the first sign of French resistance. Hopefully, the war between the Bonapartists and Republicans would be a drawn out affair, but this would likely be the first of several attempts by the French to reign Italy.

\------

Florence "fell" in a similar fashion, but Lelouch marched towards Rome with more caution, using what little cavalry he had as vedettes to scout the enemy and portions of his Sicilian infantry also marched ahead of the main column in a role similar to the French Tirailleurs.

The army had been on high alert after crossing the Arno, but no French columns had appeared, no charging cuirassiers with their sabers flashing in the warm June air. His scouts first reported French forces in the distance near Siena, with them taking a defensive position on the hills that made up so much of the Tuscan landscape.

More scouting had informed him that Beauharnais had formed a grand battery to rival his stepfather, Napoleon, and placed it on the crest of one of the largest hills in the region. That would be an unenviable position to take, if not for his rifled guns, the finest of which could bombard the enemy from nearly 4 kilometers away.

\------

The Sicilian Prince seemed to be setting up his artillery on a slightly lower hill about 3 kilometers away, and through his telescope Beauharnais could see the men heaving the cannons uphill, working in teams of dozens to pull the heaviest guns up. What was he thinking? He must have known that the guns couldn't fire over the rolling hills between them, which were covered in olive orchards.

He couldn't think Beauharnais enough of a fool that he would charge across a orchard to attack his position, could he? No, there had to be something else; however no battery Beauharnais had ever heard of could cover 3 kilometers though. With time, the guns were in position, and it seemed like vi Britannia really intended to use his guns on that hill: through his telescope he could even see the puffs of smoke as the guns fired, reeling backwards with the force of their blasts.

After a few moments of calm, his artillery fell into a state of panic, enemy shot landing within in their ranks and sometimes even striking the guns and sending them spinning or knocking the wheels off of the carriages, sending splinters flying into his artillerymen. Good God, how? No guns could be that accurate, could fire at such a range….

 _Rifling._ The Britannian prince had gotten his hands on rifled guns. There was no other explanation, and no fortress in Europe that could resist guns like that, no battery could match their range on the field. Beauharnais shouted to his men: "March into the orchards! The orchards! The enemy has rifled cannons! Leave the guns!"

Some of the more experienced artillerymen seemed to have guessed, but the younger ones began to panic. Fortunately, the great mass of his men moved into the orchards, their formations loosening into something like a skirmish line as they approached the enemy position. The trees would the enemy artillery less effective, but it crushed the effectiveness of his cavalry, which was one area in which he had the Britannian prince decisively beaten. However, what those rifled guns could do for France…. They could help in the Grecian front, or they could turn the civil war in France for his stepbrother, Napoleon II. Hopefully, the rifling would make canister less effective and increase the spread to the point of ineffectiveness...

\------

Lelouch was worried that the enemy would retreat from the field after he used the rifled guns, but it seemed Beauharnais wanted to end the battle even with such a disadvantage against him. Lelouch had placed 2,000 of his Sicilian rifle infantry in the orchard in front of the hill he had placed his cannon on, with the remainder of his infantry positioned between and behind his cannon. What little cavalry he had, some 500 Sicilian infantry trained to ride horses and fought dismounted, like the dragoons of old, he sent to the side, although making sure they would swing wide enough to avoid the spread of Beauharnais' infantry.

\------

Beauharnais was grateful for this olive orchard, as it hampered the effectiveness of the enemy guns, making it harder for the enemy to strike his men, although occasionally a shell would strike a tree, sending a massive spray of splinters into his men.

He almost sagged with relief when the shot stopped landing, and then he froze. Why would he stop firing? Instinctively, Beauharnais ducked as a shot from an enemy skirmisher soared over his head. He couldn't get an exact count of the enemy's line, but there must have been hundreds, spread wide in the orchards in a loose line, their long guns- rifles, of course – firing in tandem. These men were no rabble, they aimed well and his men were falling rapidly from accurate shots to the head.

His men's musket shots simply were not landing as often as the Britannian rifles, and squinting through the shaded leaves of the olive trees he could see a tremendous mass of men and cannon on the ridge of the hill, shouting as the infantry moved in front of the cannon, presenting thick blocks of bristling bayonets, like gleaming hedges.

The skirmishers pulled back further, running uphill and weaving between olive trees, sprinting up to their fellows and crouching to load and fire at his infantry, as if getting off as many shots as they could before they could retreat into the narrow gaps between the dense blocks of infantry. Before he could give a command to retreat, a rifled bullet struck him, and he fell from his horse as his men broke into a panicked rout.

As the panicked men ran towards their camp, fleeing from the Britannian infantry, Lelouch did not pursue, although few of the French soldiers stopped to ponder why as they fled towards their cannons. As they approached the ridge, they could see activity up there, although Beauharnais had left no one behind as he ordered his charge….

And then the orchard was filled with chaos as cannons fired on them from both sides, rifled shot from behind and French cannon from the front, seized by the small wing of cavalry Lelouch had sent to the side at the beginning of their charge. Caught between a rock and a hard place, the French morale evaporated and any men not caught up in the barrage fled to the sides, deciding that returning to camp to grab their possessions wasn't worth dying by their own artillery.

\------

Lelouch and Jeremiah rode over after the battle, and saw all the guns that the cavalry had commandeered during the battle: nearly all the field pieces of the army of Italy, although a few would require too much repair work to use properly and were as such spiked (the process of jamming a steel spike into the cannon's touch hole to effectively disable the gun), but a yield of some 40 pieces of artillery, even if they were smoothbore, were worth their weight in gold for Lelouch's campaign.

The enemy's camp proved to be a similar windfall, as the chaos of the rout left the camp undefended and mostly untouched, still full of spare munitions, food, and excess clothing. Some of the French uniforms were saved, no use in giving up such a potentially useful tool, Lelouch figured, but the rest were used as bindings for what few injuries the army of the Risorgimento had sustained during the battle, or were used to patch up the rough clothes of his Italian volunteers.

He would really need to commission some uniforms for the men, but hopefully Lloyd was well under way in building textile factories in Sicily. He was honestly worth more on the home front than he would be accompanying Lelouch in the field, and Lelouch did not savor the idea of potentially hauling the man's entire lab apparatus by horse through the hills of Italy. Croomy would keep the man in line, he hoped.

With the main French army in the peninsula crushed, there was nothing but time between Lelouch and his next destination: the eternal city, Rome.

\------

When Milly and Reuben arrived in Palermo, they found a city buzzing with excitement, and rumors about Lelouch's exploits were rife. They had a bit of trouble getting into the Norman Palace, but once Nunnally heard they were waiting outside they were invited in with great haste.

Nunnally gave the Ashfords a placid smile as Sayoko carefully wheeled her over to give them just as much of a hug as she could manage. "Milly! Reuben! It's been so long!"

Milly smiled broadly. "I've missed you too Nunnally! We were coming to visit you but we just had to hurry over when we heard your brother Lelouch invaded Italy, leaving you all alone! When I get my hands on him…"

Sayoko came in again, a newspaper in her arms. "Mistress Nunnally, I have a paper from the mainland, with news about Lelouch. Shall I read it?"

Nunnally nodded. "Well now we can learn about what Lelouch is up to together."

_FRENCH ARMY OF ITALY SHATTERED_

_Reports have come in of a decisive confrontation between Lelouch vi Britannia's army and the Viceroy of Italy, Eugene de Beauharnais' forces, which resulted in a massive victory for the forces of the Risorgimento. Survivors of the battle describe a pitched fight in an olive orchard in Tuscany, where Sicilian artillery played a key role in turning the tides of battle. Some men insist that these guns were rifled, but if so this would be the first recorded case of such weapons being used in an actual war, and to tremendous effect apparently. Beauharnais died in the battle, shot off of his horse, and the remaining French were caught between Lelouch's battery and French guns seized by his cavalry. The road seems open for a march to Rome, with some 25,000 men lying dead behind him, according to conservative estimates._

"All of those men dying… how horrible, but at least Lelouch is alive."

Reuben turned to the young girl. "Do you know if those rumors about rifled guns are true?"

Nunnally nodded. "Absolutely. Lelouch talked to me at length about a man he hired, a Lloyd Asplund, and how he made the most ingenious rifled weapons, from guns to cannons."

"That Asplund, the eccentric?"

Nunnally giggled. "He is quite eccentric, but he's very inventive. Before we realized quite how single minded he was, we invited him to dinner with us, and before he took so much as a bite he took a look at my wheelchair and sprinted off to improve it in his workshop. It did turn out to be a better design, but Lloyd has no care for decorum although Mrs. Croomy helps keep him in check. He's working on factories now, like the sort they have in Britannia proper."

After an… enlightening conversation with Asplund, Reuben arranged to sail with a resupply fleet that planned to meet Lelouch at Rome, stocked with more rifled guns and supplies, but no soldiers. Milly had elected to stay in Palermo to give Nunnally some company, although Reuben was sure she would have words for Lelouch when they met again.

\------

Dismounting his horse, Lelouch stepped onto some of the most storied ground in the world, where Caesar walked, where Aurelian was proclaimed restorer of the world, and where Constantine won at the Milvian Bridge and converted the empire to Christianity. This city was also home of the Popes, and while Lelouch was welcomed into the city with open arms, he knew much was riding on his impending conversation with His Holiness, Pope Benedict XV. He was an odd one among bishops, very liberal, and many suspected French interference in the Papal election to avoid the ascension of a more conservative Pope.

The Apostolic Palace was truly a splendid building, and while Lelouch did not consider himself a connoisseur of art, he couldn't resist gawking at the roof the Sistine Chapel before settling down to discuss politics with Pope Benedict, Jeremiah by his side as several of the Pope's Swiss Guards looked on in silence.

"Vi Britannia" the Pope nodded.

"Your Holiness. I have come to request your aid in converting to Catholicism, among other things."

Benedict rose his eyebrow. "I assume you are not converting out of some deep religious sentiment, but purely political reasons?"

"Could I convince you that I had a sudden religious revelation when I held the Iron Crown of Lombardy in my own hands, when I saw the nail which pierced Christ's flesh?"

The Pope frowned at him. "I suppose that's a no. I do admit that converting to Catholicism and gaining your approval would be very important in stabilizing my rule over Italy."

"And you plan on seizing all of Italy?"

"I do. From Calabria to Istria."

"And what of your father? Will you submit Italy to Britannian rule?"

"Yes. A large part of the reason I could even pull an invasion like this is the autonomy given to Sicily. I hope to secure similar terms for the rest of Italy."

"So is a conversion all you want from me?"

"An endorsement of my conversion, and if possible, my territorial ambitions in Italy."

"What do I get out of this, vi Britannia?'

"Sovereignty and a unified Italy ruled by someone who will be more open to your interests than Bonaparte or the Republicans. Plus, I am the one here with an army in Rome."

\------

The next Sunday Lelouch took the Catholic Eucharist and spread news of his conversion far and wide, as there was no use in being a secret convert. The men seemed relieved to be serving under a Catholic leader, and he refilled his ranks with volunteers from Rome, leading to an army of 30,000 with 2,800 being his original Sicilians.

At the same time, a ship from Sicily docked in the harbor, bringing with it supplies and guns for his rapidly swelling army, along with a familiar face.

"Lord Ashford?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! Thank you very much, VectorMaximus, your review gave me a lot to think about. I kind of ret-conned the Persia situation, admittedly, because once I sat down and thought about it I realized that invading Persia with hopes of annexation was a little silly. The Battle of Crechy definitely took inspiration from the American battle of Gettysburg, but Bonaparte isn't out of the fight just yet. The battle was plotted (with help from google maps) in and around an actual town named Crechy, north of Vichy. I wonder if anyone reading this has been there? I'm proud of the battle scenes this chapter, tell me what you think!


	5. Things Fall Apart

Britannian Sicily had always attracted the Republican and Liberal sort since it was first seized, but it seemed the slow, if steady trickle of immigrants had been boosted rapidly by news of Lelouch’s invasion, of a liberal cause to fight for. Thousands of eager young men disembarked, the majority of them part of a group informally known as the Peat Gatherers., where “gathering peat” was a cover for secret meetings and drills held in the bogs of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. While certainly not professional soldiers, they were spirited and cohesive, and led by a young radical named Seamus Collins.

The news of Prince Lelouch’s conversion to the Catholic faith was received warmly by the Sicilians and Irish, but less so by the mainly Protestant Britannian volunteers, although at the very least it meant that the Prince couldn’t warp the doctrines of his Church to suit his own political interests (well he could, but it would require forcing the Pope to agree with him).

\------

“Did you came to visit for business, Reuben, or did you just miss us?”

“A little bit of both. Once I heard you were taking over Italy, I had to visit you, after stopping in Sicily.”

Lelouch leaned forward. “Is Nunnally well? I regret leaving her alone, but I wouldn’t dare bring her along into an active war.”

“Yes. Milly is with her, and she’s going to give you a piece of her mind when she sees you again, for leaving Nunnally alone.”

Lelouch gave a melancholic smile. “And I’ll probably deserve it.”

“I heard you converted to Catholicism.”

“Yes. It ties me to the Italian people, and I need to be as relatable as I can get.”

Reuben gulped. “Despite knowing that the Act of Succession-”

Lelouch gave a dismissive wave of his hand, “I know. I’ve practically resigned my claim to the Britannian Throne by converting to Catholicism, unless my father decides to revoke the law. I’ve made my peace with it.”

Reuben nodded. “If you’ve invested yourself so fully into Italy, than I’ll help you as much as I can.”

“The help would be greatly appreciated. To start, could you get me some uniforms? I assume you met Asplund and saw his textile mills. Do you think you could get me about thirty thousand red shirts?”

\------

Russian armies were marshaling near the borders of the Duchy of Warsaw, and a conflict seemed inevitable. While this meant that in the short term Russo-Britannian relations were likely to stay cool, Schneizel recognized that the collapse of France wouldn’t magically restore the balance of European power, and that keen negotiation would be required to prevent further warfare.

However, Schneizel couldn’t predict who would be at the negotiating table with certainty. He knew that if the French lost the Turks and Danubians would try to take their pound of flesh, but Lelouch could potentially sit at the table in an attempt to get international recognition of his conquests in Italy. If Russia joined that would bring Tsar Alexander’s ambassadors to the table along with Francis II’s and Sultan Mahmud II’s. While the latter was something of a reformer, the other two were staunch conservatives, and their diplomats would almost certainly take the chance to crush France and reinstall a traditional, absolutist monarchy.

Prussia was technically within the French sphere of influence, but reports said they had been wavering and Schneizel suspected that Frederick William III would join the other great powers of Europe in taking their revenge on the French. Emperor Charles had no interest in war on the French in the short term, and Schneizel couldn’t help but wonder what sort of peace would be drawn up without Britannian interference, and if it would push Britannia further from Europe and closer to her colonial holdings, or if Italy would drag them back into European politics, perhaps quite painfully.

\------

The next stop on Lelouch’s tour of Italy was the city of Naples, which was another two weeks from Rome, which would make their arrival around the middle of July. Lelouch planned to stay there for a little longer than his usual stops, to resupply and prepare before traveling between the Apennines and working his way up towards Venice.

Reuben had decided to stay in Rome to help manage Italian economic affairs, and was planning the construction of several factories to exploit the crowded cities of the peninsula. Lelouch was tentatively hopeful that with the help of Asplund and Ashford he could restore Italy as an economic power in Europe, once he consolidated the country, of course. At the very least he hoped to try to industrialize before the rest of the world did. Britannia kept her secrets close to her chest, but the industrialization genie was out of the bottle, and too valuable to be restrained in Britannia forever.

\------

Most of the French puppet states had taken a neutral stance when civil war broke out in France, preferring to let Bonaparte and the Senate tear each other to pieces with hopes of eventually using the chaos to win their own independence. Neither party could draw reinforcements from the Confederation of the Rhine or Spain, much less Italy, and many of the more far flung departments of the empire under direct French control like those in Catalonia, Holland, or the Illyrian Provinces of the Adriatic coast were also useless.

Crechy had proven to be a setback for Bonaparte, but did not loose him the war, and he had won most of the battles and skirmishes which followed, leading to a rough stalemate, and such a stalemate dragging on would only hurt France as her enemies closed in. Bonaparte hoped that if worst came to worst, the other powers of Europe would be more willing to install him as a monarch then they would be to tolerate the Senate running wild; although Bonaparte wasn’t fool enough to think that his father had earned him anything but distrust from the other powers of Europe, and they would prefer a Bourbon on the French throne.

On the subject of the Bourbons, Bonaparte knew that Spaniard, Carlos de Bourbon, was fomenting unrest in Iberia as the war dragged on, but neither side of the civil war could rush down to stop him or vi Britannia, damn them both. Lelouch vi Britannia killed his adopted brother and made all the blood spilled to win Italy worthless. Bonaparte didn’t think of himself as a man who preened and prided himself on titles, but it did sting a little to see vi Britannia plucking Rome from him, making the title his father gave him, King of Rome, nothing more than a joke.

\------

Joachim Murat, (titular) King of Naples was in a bind. He was no coward, and he would not flee, but his army and Greek allies were stretched thin defending the last bastion of Greek independence left, the Peloponnese. Greek forces had retreated from Athens a few weeks previously, and the ferocity of the Turkish and Danubian navies pushed the armies back into the hills and forests of Arcadia, and while they could retreat into the mountains it would leave the Turks and Danubians free to close in on France.

Murat would not abandon the Greeks, and he would make the enemy pay a high price for every dead Frenchman and Greek; however, he knew that this battle was hopeless, a Thermopylae of the modern age. While the Greeks emerged triumphant against Persia in the end, Thermopylae won no war-- in fact, the Persians would proceed to burn Athens after that fateful battle. Murat hoped that his Thermopylae wouldn’t proceed the burning of Paris; however, he knew the odds were not good.

\------

The Imperial Court had become, in a strange way, transfixed on Lelouch’s campaign although mostly as entertainment, some hoping to see Lelouch rise above the challenges facing him while others gleefully waited for Lelouch to fall and doom the Commoner Empress’s lineage to extinction. It was like a story rife with plot twists, although the most recent of these twists was definitely the most surprising.

“Catholicism, really?”

“Is Italy really worth a mass?”

As the court chattered and murmured about Lelouch’s sudden conversion, Charles couldn’t help but appreciate the boy’s gall, even if his conversion crippled his chances at becoming Emperor of Britannia. So few of Charles’ children weren’t disappointments, and Lelouch was certainly up there, and the choice between him and Schneizel was actually a fairly difficult one, as opposed to the easy eliminations of ingrates like Guinevere.

At the very least, even if Lelouch never ascended to the throne, he would make one of the finest ministers that Britannia had ever had, and he would endear the Catholic populations of the empire to him greatly.

\------

Lelouch couldn’t help but wonder how he would be received in Naples and, to a larger extent, how the entire Mezzogiorno, disregarding Sicily, would view him. He was similar to them culturally and shared their religion, but he was no Ferdinand de Bourbon, and he wasn’t sure if he’d receive the same warm support from the peasantry.

The warm welcome he was received with was something of a surprise, but he supposed the Neapolitan people were just happy to have a King figure who wasn’t French. Another city joined the Risorgimento, and helped prepare his men for the journey over the Alps to reach Bari, before he marched his way back up the boot of Italy, going through San Marino and striking Bologna and then finally Venice.

Admittedly, northern Italy worried him, because of Austrian claims in the region. Before Napoleon, the Austrians ruled in Lombardy and Venice. In a best case scenario he might be able to snatch the region if his campaign was fast enough; however, he knew that if the Danubians won their war with the French (and every battle he won helped the Danubians, like it or not) after securing the mountainous Tyrol region they would come for Lombardy and Venetia, come for Italy.

At the very least, the Empire of the Danube was the only real great power who had interests in Italy other than France, and if he could fend them off Italy would be secured.

\------

_KING CARLOS TAKES NORTHERN SPAIN_

_In a unsurprising consequence of his recent escape from imprisonment, King Carlos of Spain seized parts of northeastern Spain, like Catalonia and the Pyrenees, with expeditions into Aragon and Navarra under way. Local juntas have flocked to support him, and Carlos seems posed to swallow up Spain in the same way vi Britannia is sweeping up Italy._

\------

A few days before the army of the Risorgimento could cross the Apennines, some unusual ships docked at the port of Naples. Of course, Lelouch wasn’t stopping the army for every ship landing in the harbor, but the flag of the Sicilian merchant marine gave him pause. He had not asked for any reinforcements or supplies at Naples, so he rode with his Sicilian infantry to investigate.

He found an enthusiastic young man of an exceedingly Irish complexion, a musket slung over his shoulder, a broad green sash over the other, and a simple flatcap with a green cockade.

“Your highness! My name is Seamus Collins, and I bring with me 2,500 volunteers from Britannia to help your campaign.”

Lelouch gave a smile, and extended his hand. “A pleasure. I assume you know my name already. May I ask why you came?”

Collins seemed a little shaken by the gesture of friendship, and Lelouch could see Jeremiah’s brow furrowing in consternation. “We came to support your campaign, to support the expansion of the most liberal part of Sicily. Most of us are part of a group called the Peat Gatherers-”

Jeremiah scoffed. “The Peat Gatherers? Truly?”

Collins’ pale face turned ruddy and he rushed to defend himself. “Because we’re a society that holds our meetings in peat bogs. Not sure if a high and mighty nobleman like you has lowered himself to see a peat bog where the commoners do real work-”

Lelouch stepped between the two. “Now gentlemen, let’s both just calm down a bit, shall we? We’re all here for Sicily and for Italy, aren’t we?” While Lelouch was pleased that he was so well regarded among Britannian liberals that a few thousand came to support his campaigns in Italy, he knew the Italy they wanted (if they truly wanted an Italy and not just a more liberal Britannia with a Mediterranean climate) would be very different from the Italy that the Neapolitan peasants toiling in the fields just a few kilometers away wanted.

It took a bit longer to rearrange his logistics to support an extra 2,500 men on the march, but they moved within a few days with hopes of arriving in Bari a week after the beginning of August. Lelouch carefully arranged the men on the march so that the Peat Gatherers would intermingle with the Italians, especially the Sicilians, who tended to know more English than the rank and file Italian volunteers. It would be rather silly if his Italian army had members who didn’t know a lick of Italian, after all.

\------

_RUSSIANS MOVE INTO WARSAW_

_The armies of Tsar Alexander have moved into the Duchy of Warsaw, citing the chaos of the French civil war as reason to subjugate the Poles and prevent anarchy. Reports of battle and fierce Polish resistance have come from Lublin and Mariampol. As of yet, the French Confederation of the Rhine has remained neutral, although with the threat o the Russians closing in who knows how the Germans will react?_

\------

Bari was rich city, in large part thanks to the influence of Murat, whose rule as King of Naples lead to economic growth for the city, as well as a new district, the Murattiano, where his army was currently stationed. He supposed that the man might be quite upset with his modern, rational city quarter being used to host a scion of one of the oldest dynasties in all Europe, if Murat wasn’t lying dead somewhere in Greece already.

Now the army would head north, hugging the Adriatic as they raced the Danubians to Venice, and while Lelouch was loath to exhaust his army by marching hard in the hot August sun before what could be a decisive battle against the armies of the Danube, but reaching Venice first would be important in keeping him from appearing as stealing from the Danubians, but rather as a liberator from the French. He would win no favors in the European halls of power by fighting a bloody siege to take Venice from the Austrians.

\------

Nunnally ruled in her brother’s absence, which largely consisted of keeping a careful eye on the behaviors of the Sicilian Parliament. While Lelouch had never expanded on it at length, she realized fairly quickly that the Parliament was staffed with decently skilled administrators that were bribed enough to not be overly resistant to Lelouch’s suggestions, and as the payments were still being made, Nunnally tried her best to make some positive changes for Sicily while Lelouch was gone.

Milly was helpful, both for her business acumen and for simply providing some company, although she tended to… spook much of the staff other than Sayoko, who seemed used to her antics. Of course, this was just extra eccentricity of top of the many quirks of their resident researcher, Lloyd Asplund.

“Your highness, I have a project I’d like you approve.”

“What would that be, Earl Asplund? They’ve all proved interesting so far.” While some of them seemed a little too ambitious, he had introduced the rifles her brother was so fond of, and a device for reaping which helped the farmers.

“In some parts of Britannia, they use steam powered trains on rails for the delivery of cargo, and while that would be valuable enough for the hilly terrain of Sicily, I believe I can modify them to be used to move people!”

Milly smirked, “And they’d still be alive at the end of it, Lloyd?”

“Well of course! There’s no use in loosing out on good workers!” Nunnally couldn’t see it, but Cecile’s sigh was so loud she could hear it from the other side of the room.

“The idea sounds good, but please assure the safety of the passengers, Earl Asplund.” Perhaps, if things turned out well, Nunnally would be able to ride around Sicily in these trains Asplund was so confident in. She knew so little about the country she lived in, outside of the Norman palace.

\------

_GERMAN REVOLTS_

_The Russian push into Poland has provoked an uprising throughout the Confederation of the Rhine, spearheaded by young radicals across Germany, with support from the component states of the Confederation. The revolution seems to be centered around Prussia and King William III, with the former seeming like the center of the massive anti-French revolt. With this, France retains control over very little of the land Napoleon had fought so hard to take, such as the Low Countries and the Illyrian provinces, although advancing Danubian armies seem intent on tearing the latter from them as well._

\------

San Marino was a charming little country, and while the republic didn’t join the Risorgimento, he couldn’t really bring himself to crush the ancient city state, and several volunteers joined the army’s rush to the northeast and to Bologna, with hopes of reaching the city by early September, and Venice a bit over a week after that.

\------

Bologna “fell” in a similar fashion to the majority of the peninsula, and the army marched at a tremendous pace through Ferrara, over the Po, and past Padua to reach Venice, but what Lelouch feared did not come to pass. When the city came into view, Lelouch sagged in relief when the flag flying above Venice was the red, white, and green of Napoleon’s Italy and not the black over gold of the Danubian Empire. Vaguely, Lelouch pondered on what sort of flag the united Italy would fly, but decided to ponder upon questions such as those when he had international recognition.

The army of the Risorgimento had to stop to rest after the long march they had just struggled through, and while the Venetians were hospitable both Lelouch and Jeremiah were wary, and began to drill the men outside Venice during the days, anticipating a Danubian force, knowing that before Lelouch could travel to Rome to suss out the Italian government he would have to keep the Danubians from taking Venice.

The men drilled for days on end, and soon enough his scouts were bringing reports of Danubian banners flying over the horizon in the distance. Lelouch and Jeremiah rode out, taking care not to take bring along any of the Peat Gatherers in their guard, in hopes of making a good first impression.

\------

Their meeting was short and tense, both sides bristled and were primed to break into fighting at any moment, especially the bear of a man that led the Danubian forces.

“Vi Britannia. Surely you know that this city is rightfully Danubian?”

“I took it from the French, not you. Furthermore, why spill blood here for a city that you may just win at the negotiating table? Let me keep custody of Venice until the peace.”

“What guarantee do I have that you will return Venice to the Danubian Empire if ordered to by the other powers of Europe?”

“Well, I would be facing the might of the other powers of Europe, would I not? I am no Napoleon, who would try to fight a grand coalition in a loosing battle. As loath as I am to say it, Venice may be an acceptable price for Italy.”

The Danubian general gave a shrug. “Perhaps we shall, Vi Britannia. Will you now march against the French?”

“If you can extract a promise from your superiors not to interfere with my Italian holdings until we reach the peace talks.”

As Lelouch and Jeremiah waited for results from the Danubians, they drilled the men harder, training rapid firing of their rifles and the operation of the guns which won him victory against Beauharnais. Occasionally, a ship would come from Sicily, bearing great loads of ammunition or more rifled artillery to bolster the army of the Risorgimento, or perhaps it would soon be the army of Italy? During the September evenings, when the sunset dyed the Venetian lagoon orange and gold, his Britannian volunteers stumbled their way through the basics of Italian grammar as the army bonded.

He also couldn’t help but think the red shirts Ashford provided for him were truly striking, turning his army into a great mass of red that reminded Lelouch of the Roman legions, reborn in the forge of the 19th century.

\------

Once a truce had been declared and Lelouch was assured that the lands he won Italian campaign wouldn’t be snatched up the Danubians immediately after he left, the men marched west, towards France. They passed through Milan once more and passed by Turin and Genoa, where the entire expedition started before beginning to slowly work their way into the southern portion of France.

The Spanish were busy pushing the French garrisons down into Andalusia in the south, but the Germans were already pushing into the Low Countries and crossing the Rhine by the thousands. The Danubians were also making their way through southern Germany, Barbary corsairs were striking France, and the Russians were pushing their way through the Poles.

\------

The rolling fields of Provence were a beautiful purple color, the result of massive cultivation of lavender, and the smell of lavender in the air was calming. The farmers toiled in the fields, planting winter wheat or harvesting their crops before the weather grew too cold.

Lelouch had gathered that his army was on Bonaparte’s tail- the Emperor of France was pushing towards Paris, probably with hopes of at least being at the negotiating table instead of sidelined by the Senate. Of course, there was the risk that the French were somewhere else, waiting to ambush his army, so their advance was cautious, but at a greater pace than the relatively sluggish pace they had taken through Italy, with hopes of reaching Paris in a bit over a month, in late October or possibly early November.

He hoped Nunnally was well, it had been some four months since he had last seen her, and his heart ached, but he told himself he did it for her sake. He would restructure Europe if it meant that she would be safe, and if he was fortunate, that was exactly what he would do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Britannian revolutionary group I talked about/made up, the Peat Gathers, drew inspiration from the Carbonari (“Charcoal makers”), an Italian secret society with similar goals that sprung up in Italy, and I found the name particularly striking. Sorry that this one was a little shorter than the last. Once again, I love feedback, so if you think something’s up or have some criticism tell me.


	6. After They've Seen Paree

After They've Seen Paree

\------

Bonaparte's horse watered itself on the Upper Seine, the portion of the river that was upstream from Paris, as Bonaparte himself sat down to think. His rear guards had given him reports of what was almost certainly a Sicilian scouting force, meaning that not only was he rushing towards the enemy, they were closing in from behind.

He had the most horrible feeling of emptiness in his gut, knowing that so much of his father's work had been made useless, but Bonaparte wouldn't abandon France to the rest of the world. His father, his brother Beauharnais, and his uncle Murat all died for the dream of a free France, and he would try his hardest to defend it.

Vi Britannia was a cunning sort, as he had beaten Beauharnais on the field, but he seemed a little more liberal than the rest of Europe. His father was an absolutist, as was the Tsar, the Danubian Kaiser, the King of Prussia, and the King of Spain, but the Sicilian prince seemed a little different although that didn't mean Bonaparte wanted to meet the man, no, the boy on the field of battle.

Standing up, he called for his men to continue on the march to siege Paris. He had bled the Senate's forces dry recently, and while he knew they still had thousands of men defending the capital, he had managed to gather more support from more monarchist elements in France. It was almost ironic, that his father purged the French Army of Italy of monarchists and made it radical only for his son to urge the same sort of monarchism in the rank and file of his own army.

\------

Tsar Alexander had marched with the armies of Russia to strike at France, leaving Schneizel behind in the Britannian embassy in St. Petersburg. The snow was coming down in thick flurries outside, and he couldn't help but feel trapped and impotent, forced to negotiate with government lackeys as the real diplomatic changes in the world happened thousand of miles to the east.

At the very least, as long as the Tsar was preoccupied in putting down the French Britannia could act more freely in Asia, and Schneizel's mood was lifted by the pleasant company of the Tsar's younger brother, Nicholas, who shared his sibling's autocratic tendencies but none of his paranoia. On a darker note, Schneizel suspected that warming up to the man was important because Alexander had no living children, and either Nicholas or his elder brother Konstantin would probably ascend to the throne after him, although Schneizel had heard worrying rumors of the latter resigning his claim to the throne.

\------

The army of the Risorgimento reached the city of Paris a few days before the end of October, and Lelouch couldn't help but think of the chaos that greeted him in Milan. Smoke drifted in the air above the city as Bonaparte and the Senate did bloody battle on and across the Seine, exchanging shells from the many walls that traced through Paris.

Inside the city itself, Bonaparte was fighting a pitched battle outside the Luxembourg Palace, where the Senate had entrenched themselves. It was almost ironic that the cannonballs that were used to destroy an old royal dwelling were being launched from Bonapartist cannons and not radical ones.

Almost all of the fighting had taken place south of the Seine, and Republican forces were defending the various bridges across the Seine, along with the two islands in the river, fiercely, but falling back across the Seine had left the Palace isolated, and while most of the Senate had escaped the symbolic power of seizing the headquarters of the opposing government was tremendous. It also kept the Republicans from attacking them from the rear as they did battle on the Seine.

The courtyards and boulevards that dotted the city had turned from places of recreation to positions for tremendous batteries of guns which roared throughout the day as teams of men scampered to wells or even the Seine to get buckets of water to pour over the guns to keep them firing as rapidly as they could possibly manage, and the air was thick with the smell of gunsmoke.

Bonaparte was horrified when his scouts reported that the Sicilian army had arrived on the outskirts of the city, but when he checked with his telescope the great mass of red-clad men were simply waiting, and Bonaparte knew they were ready to charge into the city the moment the fighting had come to a halt, and they would hold it until all the other great powers of Europe descended upon the city.

One of his lieutenants ran up to him, "What shall we do about the Italians, your majesty? By the time the fighting is ended they will probably have greater numbers than us…"

Bonaparte sighed. "We will surrender to the Sicilian, once the battle is done. We cannot hope to hold off all of Europe from Paris." Perhaps he would win some diplomatic favor if he surrendered peacefully, and if he was going to surrender to anyone it wouldn't be one of those autocrats ruling the other great states of Europe.

He could see the hope fading from the lieutenant's eyes, but he ran back to his post. There was no use in demoralizing the men during battle, after all.

He heard shouting and turned to see a mass of men charging into the Luxembourg Palace, bayonets flashing before they were swallowed up by the dark of the building. When the men surrounding the palace were freed up, he could hopefully strike with enough force to push past the Seine bridges and push the Republicans back from the right bank of the Seine before he surrendered.

\------

Collins had cleaned his rifle for about the fifth time in the past hour, and many of the other men were in a similar state of anxious preparation before they besieged the city. The battle seemed to come to a decisive end soon enough, as the armies closer to them, presumably Bonaparte's, pushed their enemy across the Seine and forced the routing enemy out of Paris. He expected panicked defensive actions, a possible retreat across the Seine to bleed his men on the bridges, but instead Bonaparte rode out with a small escort of cavalry, nowhere near enough to charge them.

Lelouch shouted "Hold! They come to parley! Do not fire at them!"

Bonaparte rode to the Italian camp and shouted "Vi Britannia! I wish for no more bloodshed today, and I have come to surrender!" before he threw his saber on the ground at Lelouch's feet.

Lelouch smiled. "Shall we talk more in the city, then?"

\------

Paris was a splendid city in spite of the damage from battle, and he and Bonaparte went to discuss terms in the Elysee Palace as his men set up camp outside.

Lelouch looked down, "I suppose it's not much consolation, but I didn't meant to kill Beauharnais. I'm sure the people of Paris are grateful that you could put something like that aside for their sake."

"I don't like you, vi Britannia, but you're the best option of all the powers I'm facing, and if I had to surrender it would be to you."

"Because I'm more liberal?"

"Of course. Also, I hope you have a little less dislike for me and my father then most of the other rulers of Europe."

Lelouch was suddenly struck by just how young Bonaparte was. He was his age, perhaps a year or two younger, but ran a campaign just as large as Lelouch's to try to live up to his father's legacy. Lelouch could respect that, even if they fought on opposite sides of the conflict.

It was decided that Lelouch would hold Paris until the other powers of Europe came, and Lelouch saw no reason to chase what remained of the Republicans into the French countryside.

And so, he waited, and drilled the men fiercely. Just because they were in Paris was no reason to let discipline loosen, and the men patrolled the streets to make it clear who was in charge of Paris now.

\------

The Britannian court viewed the war on the continent with a strange mix of fascination and disdain. It may not have a tremendous amount of impact on Britannia proper, but watching the rest of Europe crush the French once and for all was satisfying, and for some a tremendous relief. The French were finally being brought to heel, even if Britannia had no real stake in the Napoleonic wars which followed the Revolution after they made peace with France in 1809.

Of course, they also focused on the Sicilian Prince, Lelouch vi Britannia, who had gone from a minor governor of a remote territory to ruler of the majority of Italy. He may have been half commoner and Italian, but the Britannian half more than made up for it. The court had talked about him many times before, but the news that reached the Britannian court in the first days of November brought him back into the limelight.

_THE SICILIAN TAKES PARIS_

_After a pitched battle between Bonaparte and the French Senate that resulted in the latter fleeing from the city, Paris was surrendered to Lelouch vi Britannia, viceroy of Sicily and de facto ruler of Italy. Bonaparte surrendered to the young prince moments after the battle ended, and his reasoning remains unclear, although some suggest that it was a simple effort to avoid more bloodshed. While French forces still remain in other portions of the country, this seems to mark a turning point in the war, and in time the other powers of Europe will reach Paris as well. The forces of the Danubian Empire and the German states have crossed the Rhine already, and the Russians march through Prussia._

A member of the Britannian royal family controlled Paris for the first time in nearly 400 years since the French pushed the English out during the Hundred Year's War. Any qualms that the court may have had with Lelouch were temporarily forgotten as the magnitude of his achievements was revealed.

Across Britannia, stories of Lelouch's exploits in mainland Europe spread like wildfire, and particularly in more liberal and Catholic circles he was cheered as a hero, and even among the average Britannian he was looked upon favorably- how cunning, how bold, how brave!

\------

The first of the other powers at war with France to arrive was the Danubians, and while their emperor may not have been able to arrive, the head of their delegation was a nobleman named Klemens von Metternich. It was decided that he would be hosted in the palace of Versailles, outside of Paris, although he did meet with Lelouch and Bonaparte over lunch first.

He gave a diplomatic smile and extended his hand to Lelouch "Your Highness, Vi Britannia, it's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard of your exploits in Italy." Lelouch noticed how he seemed to ignore Bonaparte, almost certainly because he wasn't a "legitimate" monarch of France in the same way a Bourbon would have been.

The rest of the conversation proved Lelouch's suspicions, that Metternich was a conservative who saw the upcoming peace as a chance to restore a traditional monarchy to France. At the very least, he did want long term peace in Europe, but Lelouch knew liberal monarchies or constitutionalism wouldn't factor into Metternich's Europe, at least at first. The Peat Gatherers were an example of a phenomena that was spreading across Europe, of demands for liberty, and the French Revolution was the beginning of changing times.

Lelouch was grateful to see Metternich ride off with his entourage to Versailles, although he didn't look forward to facing the man down at the negotiating table to try to defend his gains in northern Italy.

\------

The next ruler to arrive was King Carlos of Spain who, fittingly enough, came riding into Paris on the back of a tremendously sized Andalusian horse with great pomp and ceremony. His royal finery made him quite the dashing figure, but once he dismounted Lelouch could see how his imprisonment had damaged his health: the thin arms and legs hidden under a splendid uniform, the sunken eyes.

He was of similar character to Metternich, a monarch for an older age, who still thought the divine right of kings would secure his rule. His retinue consisted largely of military men, their chests gleaming with insignia of chivalric orders, whatever Spanish nobility had survived the French revolution and returned to support Carlos. Representatives of the Ottoman Sultan arrived shortly afterwards as well, although they were mainly there just to watch the proceedings.

In time, the Germans arrived, with King Fredrick William III at their head, with several representatives from the other states by his side, like the Bavarians and Westphalians. They were lodged in Versailles and discussions began on a small scale between the other parties as the Tsar of All Russia made his way from St. Petersburg.

Lelouch participated in these preemptive talks as well, although he didn't give Bonaparte a cold shoulder like the rest of the visitors. Lelouch's days were a strange mix of peace and war, drilling and discussions of strategy with Jeremiah when his time was not filled with discussions with cosmopolitan diplomats. At the very least, these upper crust nobility tended to know French, which made discussions much easier.

The Tsar made his arrival as November drew to a close, and both the man and his horse seemed thoroughly exhausted by the trip, and just with a glance Lelouch could tell the man's horse, a great dark beast spotted with white fur, was on its last legs and might just die due to how hard the poor creature was ridden, across most of mainland Europe.

After a few days rest to recover from what must have been one of the greatest rides in the history of Europe, they gathered for the true beginning of the peace talks, with almost every great power in Europe in attendance disregarding Britannia, and they all knew that they would be reshaping the continent.

\------

They gathered at a table that had been placed in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, although the natural light coming through the windows and reflecting off all the mirrors did nothing to make the atmosphere feel any less tense.

"At long last, the French revolution has been brought to a close, and now we must pick up the pieces and put Europe back together." Metternich seemed to truly bein his element, even as shared the table with two kings and two emperors (for now, at least).

King Carlos nodded in agreement. "At the very least, we must return some of the French conquests to their rightful owners. I have support in Catalonia, and it should be returned to Spanish rule, as it was before the war. In the same way, those French holdings in what was once the Holy Roman Empire should be restored- Bremen, Weser Ems, the Left Bank of the Rhine."

"And of the Holy Roman Empire? Shall we restore it?"

Metternich shook his head. "The Holy Roman Empire is dead and gone, and while we could restore it, the Empire of the Danube has taken a more eastern stance, and I do not think the princes of Germany wish for yet another foreign power to hold sway over them."

Frederick and the German representatives accompanying him nodded in agreement, and the King of Prussia spoke. "Talks are underway for how we Germans shall organize ourselves, but the old Empire was irrelevant, more a title for the Habsburgs than an administrative body with any real sway."

"What of the Dutch? We could restore the old Kingdom of the Netherlands, and members of the House Orange-Nassau fled to Britannia when it fell to the French all those years ago. Vi Britannia, do you know of them?"

"I'm afraid not. It's been years since I've seen the shores of Britannia, and while I've visited the imperial court before I've spent most of my life in Palermo." Lelouch didn't show it, but he was cringing internally. While he held Italy, he would need keen negotiation to keep it and looking inexperienced or young while in the company of these men wouldn't help him.

"It's a good idea, even if we find no member of the House of Orange to rule the Dutch, we could still let the provinces appoint a king. Another simple thing will be restoring the French holdings in Dalmatia to the Danubian Empire., as well as the Tyrol region."

"Of course, that leads us to the issue of Italy. Vi Britannia has consolidated most of the region under his control, and while it should be liberated from the French, should he be allowed to take it?"

Lelouch grinned. "I would argue that I am the best solution for Italy. The French have destroyed many of the older systems of government in the region, including killing the King of the Two Sicilies. There is no obvious choice for the majority of Italy, but Italy has practically chosen for itself. I landed with a mere 3,000 men, but thousands of Italians joined me on my campaign. Dividing up the country into pieces would only lead to revolts and anger."

Metternich turned to him. "What of the balance of power? The creation of a new Italian state would destabilize Europe."

"And would a divided Italy be any better? We all know that in the past Italy was a battleground for the great powers of Europe, as they scrapped over tiny cities. The Habsburgs you serve under did battle against the French in Italy. A unified Italy would be able to defend itself, to keep any country from growing by swallowing up minor states, and as such it would no longer be a battleground between European powers."

The Tsar, who had remained silent so far, began to speak, his rasping voice echoing through the splendid hall. "However, in doing so, we would be delivering a great portion of Europe into the hands of Britannia. We all know your ambitions are to rule Italy, and you still serve your father."

"I would see that as an advantage for European peace, your majesty. Britannia has grown more isolationist in recent years, and Italy being under Britannian rule would bring it into a similar state of isolation from European politics. Italy would be, for all intents and purposes, chained down and kept from prosecuting an offensive war for fear of dragging in Britannia. An Italy that can defend itself while not being capable of offensive wars would be best for peace in Europe."

The Tsar seemed to think on Lelouch's argument for a moment, and Metternich went to exploit that opening. "You make good points, vi Britannia, but what of Habsburg claims in Italy? While you may occupy those cities, Lombardy and Venetia are rightfully Danubian land, and should be returned to us."

"Did you not say that the Empire of the Danube had taken a more eastern stance? You know as well as I do that your Empire is full of malcontents, I see no reason why you would feel the need to add Italians when you know full well they would rather be a part of Italy."

"You saw no issue with Spanish claims to Catalonia, so why not recognize Habsburg claims?"

"I had no issue because the Catalonians want to be ruled by Carlos. You wouldn't be welcomed into Lombardy and Venetia like I was, you'd be forcing annexation onto a people who have clearly proven themselves willing to rebel already."

Metternich's eyes narrowed. "For now at least, can you agree to the annexation of the region around Friuli? It isn't a major part of Italy, but it will do something to show that Habsburg claims are being recognized. Make no mistake vi Britannia, while I may let you keep your Italian project for a while, will we have to negotiate more in the future, over concessions for the land you've taken, that is if we do not reach an agreement to return more of it. Is that clear vi Britannia?"

Those… were fair terms, in all honesty. Lelouch would have been willing to give up Venice and the area surrounding it (with full expectation of them eventually revolting, of course) if it meant he could get Italy, and while he certainly wasn't looking forward to those concessions they were a small price to pay. Lelouch had helped manage the accounts of Sicily and the household of the Norman Palace, so he should hopeful be able to harness the wealth of Italy to pay off whatever the Habsburgs demanded of him.

"Of course. I will certainly not forget all you have done to lead to the Italian unification. With the Italian situation handled at least in the short term, what of the Duchy of Warsaw, the French client state?"

Once again the Tsar seemed to stir from the lethargy he was in. "It should be returned to its previous owners, Russia and Prussia. The latter will take Greater Poland, and the remainder will return to the Tsardom."

"So there is one last question left to answer. Who will rule France?" Almost everyone turned to look at the young Bonaparte, who had remained silent for most of the negotiations.

"The most obvious answer is restoring one of my relatives to the throne." King Carlos said, "One of the late King Louis' brothers still lives. He would make the best candidate for the throne."

The other rulers and diplomats agreed, and Bonaparte seemed to sag. "And what of young Bonaparte? He is still Emperor of France now."

Lelouch saw an opportunity to at least give Bonaparte something. "Perhaps a concession could be made? Give him rule of an island somewhere, perhaps Elba or the like? It would be a small price to pay for Bonaparte's abdication, and it would keep him busy and allow for him to be effectively imprisoned by sea."

Metternich snorted in a rather non-diplomatic fashion, as if he had thought of something amusing. "Let's give the boy Corsica, then. It's where his father hailed from, is it not? Corsica for the crown of France is certainly a fair deal."

\------

The broader strokes of the peace were decided that very day, although it took a longer time for all the proper documents to be signed and for the finer details of the peace to be ironed out. With his business done and rule over most of Italy secured, Lelouch could finally return home, to see Sicily, to see Nunnally. He would be riding ahead with a small group of cavalry, and he hoped to see Nunnally before Christmas.

Due to the fact that his destination was basically a stop on Lelouch's route, Bonaparte accompanied Lelouch as they rode to Provence, and the two of them would discuss tactics long into the night after hard days of riding. Jeremiah was leading the army on foot to Rome, where they would wait for Lelouch to set up what would become the new Italian government, even if it was technically part of Sicily, at least according to the Peace of Versailles.

Both King Carlos and the various German princes had left the city with the same haste Lelouch had, eager to return home and work on integrating their gains. However, the Tsar of Russia was planning on wintering in Paris, as his health had apparently been severely impacted by his mad dash to reach Paris.

\------

_TSAR ALEXANDER DEAD_

_Early in December, Tsar Alexander of Russia died in Paris, from a sickness that exploited his exhaustion from a ride across most of Europe. The Tsar left no issue, with both of his daughters having died before him, so the Empire will go to his brother Constantine._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another chapter! The decision to give Bonaparte II Corsica was inspired on the fact that Napoleon was given Elba to rule in exile before he made his return in the Hundred Days. The title is a line from the song "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?", which talked about rural American soldiers who would have been dazzled by the sights of Paris/Paree during WW1. Once again, feel free to leave a review if you've got any concerns. Next time, we go from warfare and diplomacy to…. Statebuilding! (War is on the horizon, but for now Lelouch is going to consolidate. And see his sister, of course).


	7. Concerning Principalities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagined the battle in Paris last chapter to have been pretty decisive, basically bringing an end to the Senate with the seizure of their halls of government, although maybe I should have added something about the death or capture of senators, although it’s not like Republican sentiments have died out or anything crazy.

The Peace at Versailles had truly reshaped Europe, restoring many pre-revolution states or returning French gains to their previous owners. The Holy Roman Empire may have been gone, but a loose coalition of German states stood in its place, united by a desire to never again fall under the sway of a foreign power. A new Swiss state was created, the Habsburg territories in the Alps were returned to them once more, and Greece had been completely returned back to Ottoman control as well.

The Dutch provinces were free, but trapped in an interregnum as the various states squabbled over who would be appointed to rule them, with the Flemish and Walloons proving particularly unhappy with any choices presented by the largely Protestant northern portions of the “United” provinces.

Lelouch and Bonaparte had arrived in Toulon after some days hard riding with their guards, and were sailing from France to the southern Mediterranean, fleeing from the snow that had started to dust Europe as December passed by. Their first stop was Corsica, where Bonaparte departed to rule his own independent Principality, completely separate from France and for all intents and purposes just a reason to keep Napoleon’s son away from Europe.

After resupplying, Lelouch sailed by the ex-French island of Sardinia, which had fallen to the French along with Piedmont-Sardinia during the beginning of the revolution. The island had even played host to the Savoyard royalty in exile, although they met similar ends to the French Bourbons when the revolutionary state invaded in force. Technically, it feel under Lelouch’s control according to the dictates of the peace, although he knew that military force might be required to bring the island under his control, as it wasn’t really high on his list of original Italian priorities.

Much of the more rural Italian land only really fell under his sway in name, because he had control of the cities which dotted the peninsula, and Lelouch knew it would be an uphill battle to try to centralize the country too quickly, or to put too many reforms into place. He supposed being under Britannian rule kept the rest of Europe from pouncing on him before he could prepare himself, although Lelouch’s potentially liberal state only coming into being due to the threat of military force from absolutist Britannia was certainly ironic.

The ship reached Palermo on Christmas day, and his arrival only seemed to heighten the jovial mood that surrounded the holiday season, although murmurs of an Italian kingdom with Lelouch as king sent shivers down his spine. While Lelouch would prefer independence, if he could get away with it, he knew that any attempts to claim Italian kingship would go poorly for him at the moment. Even with much of Britannia’s military might tied down on other continents, he knew that a fight for independence would be a fierce one- one that would leave him open to the other absolutist powers of Europe who would be happy to kick the state while it was down. Lelouch hoped to negotiate a Viceroyalty of Italy with Britannia.

He rode to the Norman Palace with as much haste as he could manage as the crowds filled the streets, but managed to reach the castle before the day grew too late. It had been some seven months since he had stepped foot in the palace and seen his sister, and he knew that Milly would be waiting with her, and possibly Reuben if business had not dragged him away from Palermo.

The guards had let him inside without any trouble although they were a little surprised to see him back without any real warning, and as Lelouch entered the dining hall to see his sister, she heard him opening the door and her head perked up. “Lelouch?”

“Nunnally.” Lelouch wasn’t the fastest man in his armies by any means, but he felt like he had never moved faster in his entire life as he went to embrace his sister.

“It’s wonderful to have you back, Lelouch. You arrived just in time for Christmas dinner.” A proper Sicilian dinner certainly seemed appetizing, especially after months of army cuisine and hardtack when more conventional supplies grew meager. However, Milly’s expression made all the fine food seem about as appetizing as hardtack.

“Lelouch vi Britannia, you left your sister alone for months-” Well, Lelouch honestly didn’t expect any less, and he definitely deserved it, so he didn’t dare interrupt the tongue lashing Milly was about to give him.

\------

Unfortunately, it seemed Reuben was out on business for that particular evening, and Nunnally seemed too enthused by Milly’s verbal assault to stop her. Once she had simmered down and Lelouch had properly greeted her after years of separation, they sat back down for dinner.

“So, I assume a peace has been negotiated?”

Lelouch nodded. “Yes, one has, and I assume it was only hard riding that let me ride before news of the peace did. The Peace of Versailles, or so it’s called.”

“So what did you get out of it, Lelouch? I certainly hope you didn’t leave Nunnally behind only for the powers of Europe to keep you from gaining anything from it.”

“Disregarding Friuli and Corsica, at least for now, I am ruler of all Italy, in my father’s name at least.”

“At least for now?”

“I’m going to have to negotiate with the Danubians to reach a long term solution about their claims in Northern Italy, and their diplomat, Metternich, certainly didn’t like me.”

Milly smirked. “And what’s not to like about Lelouch vi Britannia? The towering intellect, the Italian origins, the military genius- practically Napoleon reborn, and so humble too!” Nunnally giggled a little, and Lelouch suddenly perked up.

“Speaking of Bonaparte, I met his son, Bonaparte the second. He’s surprisingly young actually, a little less than me. He rules Corsica now, as its prince.”

“Why Corsica?”

“The powers of Europe needed somewhere to put him and decided that Corsica would work. I suppose he’s technically not a prisoner, but it’s exile in all but name.”

Nunnally frowned. “How unfortunate. How was he?”

“Certainly better company than anyone else at the negotiating table, even if I did kill Beauharnais.”

The conversation fell silent at that, but Nunnally spoke again. “Where’s Jeremiah? He left with you, but isn’t here. Is he alright?”

“Yes. He leads to the main body of the army to Rome, and I’m going to meet him there soon, to get some more of the specifics of the government decided. I believe he’s also picking up some representatives from the territories he is passing through, to get something like an Italian parliament going, even if they’re not elected. Considering how this might be more of a long term stay, I’d like you two to come with me, to stay in Rome.”

\------

Schneizel was one of the first to hear when news came from Paris, of the Tsar’s death while wintering in France, and he knew immediately there would be trouble. While he had managed to weasel a confession out of Konstantin that the man had resigned his claim to the throne, the general public and possibly more importantly the military didn’t know that, and a great mass of soldiers marched to the Winter Palace.

Of course, the full might of the Russian Army was still tied down in France, but there were garrisons left behind in key Russian cities, garrisons that took a more liberal lean than their comrades who had marched with the Tsar to crush the French, and it seemed the liberals had spread their influence while the old Tsar was gone.

Schneizel was fortunate enough to be holed up in the British embassy and not the Palace proper, which was seized by garrisons early in the morning. In any other circumstance, the revolt would have been crushed by the might of the main army, but in the apparent confusion of the succession liberals had seized the palace with hopes of influencing who would ascend to the imperial throne and their policies while the majority of the army marched home.

Konstantin was certainly no Jacobin, but he was significantly more liberal than his younger brother, and the revolters couldn’t help but seize the opportunity. While Schneizel couldn’t gather the specifics, it seemed that they were requesting a liberation of the serfs and a push towards a legislative assembly that could check the powers of the sovereign. While Schneizel didn’t expect them to last for too long as neither the remainder of the military or the other powers of Europe would look too kindly upon them, but history changes due to the smallest things.

\------

After assuring that the Sicilian parliament could manage themselves while he was gone (including greasing a few palms, as usual) Lelouch, Nunnally, Milly, and Sayoko all departed by boat as the year ended.

It was almost fitting that Lelouch arrived in Rome a few days after the year 1826 had begun, the passing of the year marking a new beginning in the Italian administration. Their welcome in Rome was very warm, although Lelouch made sure that Nunnally was escorted into their residence separately from him, just to make sure she would get there safely away from the crowds. Lloyd was also supposed to arrive in Rome eventually, but he was taking days to pack all his belongings and tools, even with Croomy’s help.

They were staying in smaller, more defensible quarters until Jeremiah and his men could arrive and they could move to the Quirinal Palace, a splendid complex on one of the seven hills of Rome. Strangely enough, it was also a previous residence of Napoleon, when he ruled as Emperor, and when he wasn’t on campaign he would spend his summers in the Eternal City.

While they may not have moved into their more permanent quarters yet, Lelouch still had a lot of work to do. Requests sent out all across Italy for administrative records, to get firm numbers and data about the country he ruled, and Lelouch almost regretted not taking all the paperwork he could have from Milan- it was the previous capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, and served as a political center afterwards until Lelouch took it over. He had to prepare boats for a potential invasion of Sardinia, and he also made an appointment with the Pope, both to talk politics, and to make sure holding Rome wouldn’t eventually get him in trouble with the Vicar of Christ on Earth.

\------

He crossed the Tiber river to meet with the Pope at the Papal apartments, and over lunch they discussed the fate of Italy, and the Pope’s place in this new state.

“Your Holiness. It’s been some time since we have last met.”

“Indeed, vi Britannia. Much has changed in Europe since we last talked.”

“I suppose we should get to what I came here to discuss, that is, your role as as temporal leader in Italy.”

Pope Benedict gave a weary sort of half smile. “Will I get to leave the Vatican at long last? The French did keep me there for quite some time, after all.”

“What I propose is an independent Papal state which controls the portion of Rome contained within the Leonine Walls, in addition to a stipend to make up for Papal lands and privileges within Italy proper only rivaled by myself or my father.”

“That would be agreeable, vi Britannia, but could you indulge me and let me at least participate in the creation of the Italian constitution? You did say privileges equal to your own, after all.”

“That would be fine, but you’re certainly being agreeable about this whole situation. I expected more disagreement, honestly. In fact, I expected more when I first came to talk with you about my Italian ambitions.”

Benedict gave a smirk. “Can a man not wish to see his home country united and free of oppressors at long last? I am no Julius II, no warrior Pope, but when I see man with the skills and ambition necessary to unite Italy…. Perhaps the Vicar of Christ wouldn’t support him, but an Italian would.”

“You’re truly fine with just the Leonine city, though?”

The pope shrugged. “It feels like an offer made in good faith, and I honestly can’t see a theocracy ruling over most of Italy working for much longer. The times are changing, and it might be time for me to focus on herding my flock and not political struggles in Italy.”

\------

Jeremiah arrived in late January, the army of Risorgimento behind him as well as the first of many representatives from the parts of Italy he had passed through, like Savoy, Genoa, and Tuscany. Lelouch and Jeremiah had also prepared many letters to be sent, both from Sicily and from Northern Italy, calling representatives from those parts of Italy they wouldn’t be visiting directly.

Jeremiah’s reunion with Nunnally was almost as heartfelt as Lelouch’s, considering how much of a role he played in both their lives, although Lloyd’s arrival a little after Jeremiah was a lot less emotional. At the very least his plans for rail lines were certainly exciting for Lelouch.

One of the other palaces in Rome become the new seat of what would become the Italian parliament, even if more government work was being done by Lelouch in the Quirinal Palace, at least in the short term. Representatives trickled in from the remainder of Italy as February came, even as Lelouch sent out deputies to start putting the land in order as a portion of the army seized control of Sardinia.

Although there was an occasional noble among them who had been fortunate enough to survive the French, many of the representatives were burghers or the like from the cities of Italy, definitely not perfectly representative of the Italian people, especially the rural farmers, but hopefully they would be more approving of a liberal constitution.

Even with only some of the representatives present, Lelouch had already been drafting civil codes and the framework of a constitution. One of many ways to unite the patchwork of Italian cities would be by linking them all under a common code of law without years of feudal complexities and idiosyncrasies. Once again, Lelouch found himself following in Bonaparte’s footsteps, as his law code took inspiration from the Napoleonic Code which many of the French puppet states (including the Italian ones) used. The comparative simplicity of the code, along with the secular principles and accessibility for the common people, were something to strive for.

Lelouch’s greatest hope for the constitution was some form of universal suffrage, or as close as he could reasonably get the Parliament to agree upon. Female suffrage was going to be a difficult sell, even if the short lived Corsican Republic had implemented such a thing before the French swallowed them up in 1769, and Lelouch could definitely see it not going through.

\------

Lelouch knew better than to expect extreme speed from the parliament, but all the debate grated on him a bit. His mood was lightened considerably by reports from Sardinia of a coal deposit deep underground, and Lelouch set Lloyd to work helping develop the technology needed to mine it properly. He couldn’t believe he was that fortunate to have coal in his lands, even if the colliery wasn’t located in mainland. Some projects that were on the back burner like steamboats suddenly became bigger concerns, and plans were made for tremendous amounts of rail lines, to get the coal to the coast and to move it to the inland cities of the Italian peninsula. Lelouch would bring the peninsula into the modern age of industry kicking and screaming if he had to, and he wasn’t going to ignore the southern portion of Italy, which still seemed to be lagging behind the northern portion of the peninsula, even if French rule had led to some reforms.

Lelouch had grand ambitions, public schooling to combat illiteracy and great factories in bustling cities, but they remained small scale until the government had reached something more ordered. Plans were laid for a great senate to be held in Rome and something approaching federalism, although all of the territories would still fall under his rule as viceroy.

Equal rights and enfranchisement for all adult men was one key portion of the new constitution, and much of Lelouch’s work in revising and collating previous law codes was integrated. A majority of the political structure was taken from Britannian Sicily, with hopes that a very similar constitution to the one Britannia had tolerated for nearly two decades now would go over well. Of course, Britannia would come knocking eventually, and Lelouch knew that he would have to return to that snake pit called the Imperial Court, to negotiate the specifics of his new government with his father. Hopefully, the whole of Italy was enough of a prize to keep the reins loose.

\------

News of the Russian revolt reached Vienna and Berlin in time, and they were more than happy to reinforce the portions of the Imperial Russian Army marching back from France. Schneizel heard reports of them coming almost as soon as the Russian government did (or at least the small liberal contingent that had seized control of St. Petersburg). They had been reinforced by garrisons from the Baltic and Finland, bolstering their numbers, although not to a point where they rivaled the main Russian force.

Schneizel’s guards had fortified the embassy as much as it reasonably could be, and while other diplomats would flee from a situation like this, he knew that opening up relationships with whoever came out on top after all this disorder ended would be critical in assuring Britannia’s continued success.

\------

While Lelouch played close attention to the proceedings of the parliament, it wasn’t like they incapable of operating by themselves, so when Jeremiah came to his side, a disturbed expression on his face, Lelouch turned to listen.

“What’s the matter, Jeremiah?”

“A great Britannian fleet has been seen near the mouth of the Tiber. Most notably, the HMS Victory.”

The HMS Victory was one of the few British ships to survive Trafalgar intact, Horatio Nelson’s flagship during the indecisive battle, and its role as flagship in the Royal Navy was kept even if Nelson wasn’t. Of course, there would be few reasons to bring such a storied ship to visit, unless….

“My father?”

“I believe so, my lord. It flies Emperor Charles’ flag.”

Lelouch stood up. “Gentlemen of the Parliament, if you’ll excuse me, I have business with my father, the Emperor.”

As Lelouch and Jeremiah left, he could hear the conversation turning from the subject of law to his upcoming discussion with his father.

\------

The Emperor was escorted up the Tiber River and he entered the Quirinal Palace with great pomp and circumstance. Lelouch’s father certainly cut an intimidating figure, towering head and shoulder over his guards so everyone could see his stoic countenance, the Knights of the Round escorting him marching in lockstep.

“Your Imperial Majesty.” Lelouch bowed, careful not to display any behavior that could be seen as rebellion. Sicily had certain rights, but Charles still expected absolute obedience from his subjects.

“Lelouch. You’ve governed Sicily well in my absence.”

“I know you only expect the best, your majesty. Is it not simply Britannian nature to be ambitious and seize the moment when the opportunity presents itself?”

“Perhaps so, but things have changed greatly since Britannia first acquired Sicily, and true Britannian recognizes his role in the Empire.”

Of course, Lelouch had expected that Italy would have greater dues to the empire than Sicily would ever have just due to the larger size of his new state. Sicily had more value as a naval base than whatever taxes could be harvested from the island, and taking fighting men from the island would only make it an easier target for the other European powers.

However, while Italy may have been most agricultural, it still had incredible potential, with a massive population that could rival the British isles proper (not including Britannia’s many colonial possessions, of course), although the Italian peninsula was less industrialized and wildly decentralized in contrast.

Increased taxes, of course, and while the Britannian Empire technically didn’t practice conscription and had volunteer armies, the military zeal so ingrained into the people meant that a certain amount of “brave volunteers” would be expected from a state Italy’s size. Fortunately, free trade was rapidly gaining in popularity in the courts of Britannia so Italy wouldn’t be crippled by mercantilist trade restrictions. Access to the markets of India and the colonies certainly wasn’t a negative either, and would help cover the heavy taxes laid upon his state.

When it came to matters of royal styling, it was decided that Charles would take the title King of Italy while Lelouch ruled as his viceroy. It wasn’t much more than a change in name from Viceroyalty of Sicily to Viceroyalty of Italy, but it was certainly a step up even if Italy remained under foreign rule.

Surprisingly, Charles didn’t demand any real changes to the constitution of the Viceroyalty, although perhaps he valued the fact that Sicily attracted Britannian political dissidents like moths to a candle flame and kept them from rabble rousing on the islands proper.

The meeting was swift and matter of fact, devoid of any real familial warmth (not that Lelouch expected any from his father) and with his new obligations as Viceroy laid out, Charles left almost as swiftly as he came. A visit from the Emperor was certainly a high honor, but it felt like cold comfort to Lelouch, especially considering that Charles planned to leave within in the day for Sicily- to visit Marianne’s grave in Sicily while ignoring the woman’s living daughter in Rome.

\------

In theory, according to all the records he had gathered so far, Lelouch would have enough tax revenues to pay his dues to the Empire, but of course the issue was gathering all those taxes, the appointment of sheriffs and deputies. The parliament certainly grumbled when presented with the fact that one of their first acts would be the levying of taxes to pay their new obligations, but none had worked up the daring to disobey the edicts of the Empire, at least not yet.

Plans were also laid for a proper Italian army, properly organized with educated officers instead of a gathering of enthusiastic, if disorganized infantry. Sicilian horses were certainly good, but having all of Italy would give them the chance to field actual cavalry instead of using them to pull supplies or as horse artillery. With all the resources of Italy, in theory Lelouch could field an army in the tens of thousands, although their current selection of officers was lacking.

Plans were laid for a great industrial complex on the outskirts of the city, and while Lloyd may have been busy with the Sardinian coal mine, he had many schematics and plans for water powered factories, which could be built almost immediately on the banks of the Tiber without waiting for coal to run steam engines.

Literacy was low, especially in the southern portion of the peninsula known as the Mezzogiorno, and the south also had the potential to crumple in on itself further if he focused too heavily on the cities of the North and ignored law and order in the South. The might of the Italian peninsula was under his control, and he would not waste it. Machiavelli had dreamt of an Italian freed from foreign tyrants, and while they still bent to Britannia, Italy stood unified in a way it hadn’t since the days of Odoacer.

They were also laying out a framework for more general elections for the parliament, although the men on the parliament certainly seemed slow getting to that particular part of the agenda.

\------

The Britannian Royal Navy and the merchant marine carried all sorts of merchandise across the seas. Silks from Asia, naval stores from Northern America, and ivory from Africa were a few of the many goods these ships moved. These ships also moved people, and even if the Slave Trade Act prevented the sailing of slaves across the Atlantic, thousands of men, whether laborers or fighting men, traveled the seas.

One such traveler was a Britannian civil servant by the name of Aidan, who worked for the Honorable East India Company in Calcutta, but when he heard news of war in Italy, he felt a calling. Perhaps the opening of the Italian markets would be his chance to make a fortune? Even if not, if the Sicilian prince proved successful then he would need administrators and officers. He may not know a lick of Italian, but the company had books of all sorts, and he had studied on the long sea trip to Sicily, between frequent bouts of sea sickness. He usually had quite the iron stomach, but perhaps there was some disease spreading? The conditions in the ship were miserable, perhaps some foul miasma in the salty sea air?

At least his mood was brightened when the ship stopped in Gibraltar, and he had received news that Prince Lelouch had taken Italy and won recognition from the other great powers of Europe.

Sicily was a sight for sore eyes, and even through his worsening sickness the sight of the fair city of Palermo lifted his spirits. Speaking of spirits, he immediately began to look for a bar near the bustling docks. He was miserably thirsty.

Even after quite a few drinks, he still felt a little off, and he felt a terrible feeling in his stomach. The streets were crowded and filthy, and the one time he had seen London it was only worse. He stumbled outside and managed to lean against a wall before vomiting again and again. He felt so weak, and now that he was leaning against the wall he found it hard to stand. He managed to stumble over to a privy before he had miserable diarrhea. He could barely walk at that point, and he knew even if he could find a place to stay the night he’d probably collapse before reaching his room.

The next thing Aidan remembered was someone tending to him, gentle hands lifting his body and measuring his pulse, comments about a horrible blue pallor and a sluggish heartbeat. Who could they possibly be speaking of?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random history fact: One of the world’s first cholera pandemics began in India in 1817 and it would eventually spread to Europe and the Americas, killing thousands in Russia, France, and Britain, lasting all the way until 1837. Isn’t history interesting? 
> 
> Interesting fact: estimates place the Italian population around 18 million in 1800, while Britain and Ireland would come in at around 15 to 16 million. Of course, that doesn’t include the colonies or India, but Italy was very population dense state limited by not really having a strong central authority. I imagine there’d be less immigration to the new world in the Code Geass-verse, considering how it’s basically the same as the old world with nobility controlling land and such. Our timeline’s Britain was a beast, and it controlled around 24% of the world’s GDP in 1870. It could be even higher than that in Code Geass considering how much colonial land Britannia has. 
> 
> Of course, trying to apply our timeline to the Code Geass timeline always gets messy. Did the Anglo Saxons invade? Characters certainly have Germanic names, but the Britannian emperors are supposedly descended from the Celtic kings who fought the Romans. Cool setting, but they want you to watch the mecha fights and not think too hard about all the history.
> 
> Title of this chapter is based on The Prince, where a few chapter titles are something like “Concerning ___ Principalities”


	8. The Blue Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went back and edited this chapter because I was disappointed with how it came out. I was trying to rush conflict too quickly and force historical references instead of making a more reasonable story. If you're reading this chapter for the first time, you can ignore the warning next chapter about going back to reread this- it's already the revised version.

Letters between Vienna and Rome were slow, to put it quite simply. Nearly seven hundred miles separated the two cities, a distance that could be covered in perhaps three weeks of hard riding, and eventually plans were laid out for a diplomatic meeting to be held in spring in Venice to discuss Danubian claims on Northern Italy instead of negotiating slowly over mail.

As the parliament debated and sent out instructions for what would be the first Italian election, Lelouch received news from Palermo that sent chills down his spine. A mysterious disease sprung up near the docks, and it was already spreading throughout Palermo. This letter itself was even worse news- it had to get here by boat, after all. That meant this mystery disease was likely already in mainland Italy, although the symptoms were certainly distinctive. Diarrhea so severe that it seemed to kill men through dehydration alone, and even water wouldn’t always stop the deaths. Oh, the deaths. Reports were worrying and they were just from Palermo.

Lelouch called Jeremiah over, careful to stay calm in front of the parliament, even as his mind raced, memories of his studies of antiquity coming back to him, the Antonine plague that struck Rome, the plague of Justinian which nearly killed an emperor, and of course the Black Death.

“Your Highness?”

“Jeremiah, I’ve received reports of a disease in Palermo, that came by sea. It’s already proving fatal, and it’s likely spreading to the rest of Italy. It could remain small, but we must act.” Lelouch had a few small plans to improve public health and sanitation when he came to power, but this made them critical.

Lelouch then addressed the parliament. There was no reason to try to keep the country in the dark, after all. “Gentlemen, I have received worrying news from Palermo, reports of a fatal disease in the ports, which may have already spread to Italy proper by now. It may not prove to be dangerous, but we should take steps to prevent diseases of all kinds from striking the country.”

\------

The current theory of disease was known as miasma theory, where noxious vapors from decaying matter spread disease, and while Lelouch didn’t have a doctor’s education, at the very least he knew that cleaning the streets of filth would be good for the public even if diseases were caused by something other than bad air.

Lelouch’s first destination after informing the parliament of the disease was the Vatican archives, which held one of the greatest libraries in Europe, and it also let him inform the clergy, who played a great part in protecting the health of the Italian people. He may not have been a pious man, but he could appreciate the work of the church in caring for the sick.

Lelouch had his suspicions, as this disease seemed very different from previous diseases like smallpox or the Black Death that had rashes or buboes, while all this disease seemed to provoke was extreme sickness and diarrhea, although the spread seemed to point to disease and not just bad food.

After explaining the urgency of the situation, the tenders of the library seemed more than happy to help him search, and while the size of the library hopefully meant he would find something, he was searching a tremendous volume of writing.

\------

It was hard to find a precise term for the reactionary forces marching back to Russia, Schneizel mused. They were divided among national lines as Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, and they were divided on religious lines as majority Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. The alliance seemed to share very little in common other than an anti liberal sentiment forged from the fires of the French Revolution.

In the days since the liberal takeover of Saint Petersburg, more reinforcements came, and the imperial family was, ah, “relocated” to Peter and Paul, a citadel on the banks of the Neva river that flowed through Saint Petersburg. The citadel never saw actual battle, and in time shifted into a prison for political dissidents. Even if it no longer fulfilled its original use, Peter the Great most certainly didn’t imagine his descendants being held hostage in the fort.

Despite quite a bit of saber rattling from the liberals, no real political reforms had been made as of yet. The Tsar certainly knew that the main force of the army was underway, in addition to what Austrian and Prussian reinforcements they had picked up, and he could dally away until reinforcements arrived.

It would take quite a while for the main Russian force to arrive due to Paris being some 1,700 miles away, which translated to months of marching even at a strenuous pace, and the garrisons were exploiting every minute of it, trying their best to fortify their position for the eventual strike of the conservative forces.

Otherwise, Schneizel and his entourage waited as February began to die and the snow began to slowly recede.

\------

With help from the librarians, Lelouch had managed to find his culprit in a tome called De Medicina Indorum by a Hollander named Jacob de Bondt, who described a peculiar Indian disease he called cholera, after the Greek word for bile. The symptoms described were a match, diarrhea and vomiting that emptied the body of fluids and led to dehydration, in some cases leading to the skin turning blue gray.

Fighting dehydration would be a key part of any response, although Lelouch couldn’t help but wonder if there was a way to get to the root of the issue, stop the disease before it hit the people, an ounce of prevention instead of a pound of cure. The normal answer would be bad air spreading the disease, but Lelouch doubted it. When the Black Death spread through Europe, plague doctors attempted to block the foul smells by stuffing their masks with sweet smelling things, but they still died. At least he was in one of the best places in the world to do research and see if anyone had reached other conclusions.

\------

Lelouch was very lucky he decided to search in the Vatican Library, as he would have never thought to look through the works of Jesuits on his own, but here he was. He had discovered the works of a man named Kircher, a Jesuit who studied the impacts of a bubonic plague that struck Rome in 1656. Using a microscope, the man had discovered a great number of little creatures, like minuscule worms, in the blood, and proposed that they caused disease.

Supposing that such creatures were the true cause of disease and not a foul odor in the air, then fighting disease was no different than fighting other parasites which impacted the body, like flukes or tapeworms. It was simply the matter of finding out how such creatures spread, to avoid them.

“What are you working on, your Highness?” Lelouch turned to see Jeremiah standing next to him, as calm and collected as always.

“Perhaps this is a futile effort, but I’m trying to see if there is any way to prevent the spread of disease, or at least trying to understand it better. Some of these books seem to suggest that disease is the result of organisms too small to see with the eye alone, instead of foul air.”

Jeremiah’s brow furrowed. “I suppose that makes sense, your highness, but how does the organism travel from one body to another? If these creatures travel through the air, how is it any different from miasma, in a practical sense?”

“I suppose that’s the issue. Why would a parasite cause diarrhea in the host, enough to kill them?”

“Why search for the reason a lion has fangs, your highness? Perhaps it’s simply a part of the creature’s nature?”

“A lion has fangs to hunt its prey, of course. A lion born without fangs wouldn’t survive to adulthood…” Wait, was it that simple? If a lion needed fangs to survive, then cholera needed some reason for the diarrhea, some way in which it benefited from causing such an affliction in its victims. What was the reason?

“Jeremiah, could you think of a reason for such creatures to cause diarrhea, any at all?”

“Perhaps if it was a way in which the disease spread?”

That might just be it! If the disease spread itself through the diarrhea then it would be naturally incentivized to cause as much of it as possible. It would almost be self selecting in a way, the versions of the disease that proved most effective in propagating themselves would be the ones that continued on in greater numbers. The same theory could apply almost anywhere in nature, now that he thought about it, where the specimen most fit to survive in its environment would live to reproduce, passing on those traits which made it so good at surviving in the first place. Carry on for generations, and species might be capable of changing over time.

Staggering implications of such a theory aside, knowing that the disease might spread from the diarrhea it caused meant that their utmost priority was keeping the diarrhea away from potential victims. While he wasn’t sure if it could spread through air or not, letting infected diarrhea into the water supply would be as good as poison. Sanitation and cleanliness would be key in fighting this disease, and even things as simple as cleaning one’s hands after nursing the sick would probably help slow the spread.

\------

Lelouch’s royal (or viceregal) power was certainly good for something, in that he could react with much greater speed than his parliament. Lelouch sent letters all across the peninsula, describing initial steps to take to stem the spread of the disease, should it appear in their cities along with lists of the symptoms. Ships from Sicily and Rome (at the minimum) should be subject to a quarantine, in which the ships and their cargoes would spend days waiting in lazarets, islands or ships at anchor that served as stations for quarantine.

He also made sure to include orders to boil water, as the heat would hopefully help kill the small creatures Lelouch believed to cause the disease. Admittedly, the theory went against most conventional knowledge about disease, but Lelouch was confident- and he had the power to enforce his edicts. If these edicts proved effective enough, then it might even serve as proof for his theories, although his focus was on preserving Italian lives over proving any theory.

With this new medical knowledge in his mind, Lelouch decided that reducing fatalities in the army would be his next goal, both on and off the battlefield. He gathered the few “surgeons” he had in the army and proposed the idea to them, and while many where skeptical of his theory about “little animals” a discussion of medical practice in the battlefield was enlightening.

While there was always more work to do, Lelouch had proposed a system of triage, where men were sorted according to the severity of their injuries, allowing doctors to focus on those men that needed it most, and Lelouch had promised to devote a number of horses and carriages to rescuing men during active combat as opposed to sending medics in after to pick over the battlefield and find those who were still salvageable but hadn’t died of their wounds yet. Lelouch had also proposed that some of the surgeons spend time instructing the men on the basics of health and treatment of injuries on the battlefield, although the burgeoning ranks of the Italian army would make that difficult.

With control over all of Italy Lelouch hoped to have an army nearly double the size of the army of the Risorgimento at it’s height: 60,000 fighting men, along with potentially hundreds of artillery pieces. There was a great rush to produce enough guns, both of the artillery and infantry variety, for the growing army, especially considering that the Asplund balls and rifles were harder to make than plain muskets and normal buck and ball shot.

\------

Soon enough, Lelouch was receiving reports from Rome of cholera within the city, almost certainly from the same ship that brought the letter carrying news of the disease. Lelouch would definitely have to invest in faster communication, like the French semaphore towers which used signal flags and a telescope to move information much faster than even the speediest rider.

Rome was a storied city, down to the sewer system, and as long as people didn’t draw water downstream from any sewage dumping points, things would turn out much better than in cities without such systems. Lelouch certainly hoped that the Tiber wouldn’t turn into a new Thames- one of his most distinctive memories of London was the deathly stench of the Thames, and on bad days the river seemed to flow more black than blue.

Even knowing that Rome was as prepared for the plague as it could reasonably be, Lelouch certainly didn’t want the entirety of his army loitering around in the city if he could help it, and they began preparations to march towards Venice. While Lelouch certainly hoped the negotiations wouldn’t sour, a bit of saber rattling was often necessary for politics.

Despite this, Lelouch couldn’t stand the idea of leaving Nunnally alone so soon after they had reunited, and had arranged to have her accompany him to Venice. Even if she couldn’t physically see them, she was as close to a princess as the Italians had, and she should become more familiar with the country.

As Rome vanished in the distance behind him, to be maintained by the parliament in his absence, Lelouch hoped that the ravages of cholera would not be too damaging- in Rome, and all across Europe.

\------

As Lelouch travelled north, so did cholera, both in Italy and in Spain, where it spread from the Britannian base at Gibraltar into the hills of Andalusia, inching towards Madrid. By boat, it traveled to Toulon in southern France, to the Turkish Levant and Konstantiniyye, to Danubian Dalmatia, and the Russian Crimea. Naturally, some Britannian trading ships decided to return home instead of sailing the Mediterranean, bringing what would soon be known as the blue death first to London, and then many of the other great cities of northern Europe.

At the same time, the disease still remained strong in Asia, traveling alongside Britannian forces marching in Persia and following trade routes to China, the disease even spreading into Japan.

\------

Nunnally’s company, as well as the general lack of military urgency, made Lelouch’s second visit to the City of Canals much more enjoyable than the first. It was very similar to his first visit in other ways though, with days filled with drilling as they waited for the Danubians to approach.

Strangely enough, despite all the discussions the parliament had over the finest details of the state in a desperate attempt to delay their eventual replacement by actual elected officials, nothing much had been said about the flag of Italy. Idly sketching, the first idea that came to Lelouch’s mind was simple and effective, inspired greatly by the flag of the previous Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. The Britannian coat of arms, the lion and snake on a shield with a crown above, would be in the center, on a green rectangle inside a white diamond, which was itself on a red background. He had considered a tricolor design of a style similar to that of the Revolutionary French flag, but knew that it would be uncomfortably Jacobin for the Britannian ruling class. It wasn’t like flags couldn’t be changed in the future, after all.

\------

In time, the Danubian delegation arrived, led by Metternich, after crossing the Piave river, which served as the border between the two states, for now at least. They were escorted by a number of guards, and Lelouch had heard rumors of unrest in Friuli, and that great numbers of Danubian soldiers had been sent into the region to pacify those Italians that remained under Danubian rule.

"You may have already realized this vi Britannia, but your unification of Italy has caused massive discontent in our Italian holdings. We realize that attempting to claim more of our land would only exacerbate these issues, but we still demand repayment for what was lost."

"What sort of repayment?"

"A portion of the taxes due from the region of Italy that was once under Habsburg rule, as well as no tariffs for Danubian traders, at least in our previous holdings." The taxes were certainly fair, and free trade was phenomenal, practically more of a boon for Lelouch than the Danubians, at least once industrialization began in earnest. Let the Danubians buy Italian wines and grain, and they'd regret it when their markets were flooded with factory made goods. Of course, he knew that there was a less enjoyable consequence of free trade.

"Free trade sounds agreeable, but I would warn against it, at least in the short term. You may have heard rumors, but a disease called cholera has spread from Sicily to Italy proper, and sending Danubian traders into Italy could only hasten spread into your Empire. Of course, it could have already spread by sea, but I feel obliged to warn you." The Empire of the Danube may have been his enemy, but that didn't mean he was going to let people die through inaction, whether Italians under their rule or any of the other ethnicities composing the country. Of course, it also kept him from looking like he spread disease through malice or omission.

"Cholera? I've never heard of such a disease before."

"It's from India, or so I've read."

"Then it came from Britannian traders in India?"

"That's definitely a possibility. The first victim we know of was a sailor, although we're not sure of his port of origin."

"I will notify the Emperor of this disease, vi Britannia. There's another thing we request of you. There has been significant unrest throughout the Empire of the Danube after your unification of Italy, and the discontent is especially strong in the Italian portion of our Empire."

"And you want me to what, condemn these rebels? It would seem a little rich, I'd think, for the man who forged his country by harvesting popular discontent to turn around and start telling off rebels, especially Italian ones."

"Not exactly, vi Britannia. We can handle malcontents within our own borders, but we need a reassurance that Italy is not supporting this unrest. Crack down on revolutionary societies that reside within your borders and make sure that no arms are being supplied by your own citizens to our rebels."

That would be harder to accomplish than Metternich's previous demands, but doing so wasn't impossible, and would put him on better terms with the Empire of the Danube, not that he was expecting a close friendship or anything of the sort. Sure, the Empire couldn't attack without provoking the wrath of the another Empire, in Britannia, but that didn't mean that having one of your strongest neighbors angry at you was a good thing.

The meeting went as well as he expected, but that didn't mean the relationship between the states was perfect now. Massive Danubian military build up to stop Italian dissidents didn't make Lelouch very happy, although he did admit he was guilty of bringing an army near the border as well.

The subject of Italians in the Danubian empire brought up another interesting question: Where would Lelouch stop? Of course, Lelouch had no interest in starting a bloody war for some more land, but if the opportunity presented itself he would definitely want the remainder of the Italian peninsula still under Danubian control. He might be able to make claims on Istria and possibly Dalmatia due to Italian populations, although they also had Slavic populations that wouldn't be too happy with his rule . There was the southern Tyrol in the North, the area around Nice in France along with Corsica, and the Italian cantons in Switzerland, although Lelouch wasn't interested in pushing his luck by going for all of those places. Good fortune had given him Italy, and he would prefer to focus on securing his gains rather than reaching for every Italian he could get his hands on.

Being seen as an avaricious conqueror by the other powers of Europe wouldn't do him any good, and more importantly wouldn't do Nunnally any good. While he didn't rule over all Italians, he had enough sway in the world to keep his sister safe, and that was all that mattered.

\------

Schneizel had received news that the combined coalition of Austrian, Prussian, and Russian forces was within a day’s march of the capital, and reports were rushing in of small skirmishes between their vanguards and the forces of the St. Petersburg garrison. He supposed that the liberals would be sleeping rather poorly that night, and he was proven correct, although not in the way he had expected.

One of his aids woke him up in a panic in the middle of the night, and Schneizel could see why almost immediately. On the other side of the Neva River, Saint Petersburg burned, fires licking the sky as a conflagration raged on the northern bank. With horror, Schneizel realized that the flames had reached Peter and Paul fortress, and as he watched, transfixed, the cathedral on the island seemed to collapse under its own weight, falling to the side, its structure weakened by the fires.

As his aid rushed him to move, in case the fire spread to this side of the city, Schneizel realized that there was no way the fire could have spread to the fortress, as it was built on a small island in the river and was only connected to the rest of the city by two stone bridges. While it was certainly possible that two accidents had led to fires in both the citadel and the city proper, it was suspicious, and Schneizel couldn’t but suspect arson in both cases.

This would certainly throw the city’s government into chaos, and while Schneizel imagined that it would certainly make the coalition’s work easier, he wondered who they would return to the city to, if any members of the Russian Imperial family would survive those flames.

\------

Lloyd Asplund had, with some kinks, managed to start limited operations with coal mining in Sardinia, and Asplund, as was his wont, had moved onto a different subject entirely, deciding to return to the construction of artillery, although with a focus on naval guns, largely because land based guns were naturally restrained by needed to be mobile. Naval guns were a natural escalation of Lloyd’s fascination with stronger and stronger weaponry.

Lloyd had toyed with a variety of ideas, including breech loading artillery, although that hadn’t really panned out as well as it did in smaller arms. An improperly sealed breech loader could prove to be both a health hazard and could decrease the range and power of the gun, and while he could probably develop an appropriate device with enough time, he turned to another intriguing idea: exploding shells.

While exploding shells had been prevalent on land for years, they were usually shot high into the air, which made them poor choices for naval battles. The gun Lloyd was currently testing would fire horizontally like a piece of field artillery, but this new piece dwarfed the sort that Lelouch and his armies pulled behind them. A 10 pounder in the Italian Army might weigh around 900 pounds, but Lloyd’s current gun would weigh slightly over eight times that amount.

Lloyd had acquired an old merchant ship to use as a target, and the shells worked to spectacular effect. The gun roared like a lion and sent a shell flying, the explosion also lighting a fuse. The shell tore through the side of the ship and landed inside before exploding, leaving a gap wide enough for a man to walk through as the ship began to take on water. One more shell and the ship was in pieces, collapsing in on itself as the waves swallowed it whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make Lelouch's "discovery" here as organic as I could. People had bounced around the idea of germ theory earlier, and I think a mind like Lelouch could certainly connect the dots if he tried. I really tried to give the vibe that this was Lelouch discovering as he went, and as such any medical inaccuracies are kind of intended, as this is still based off a pretty limited amount of knowledge. We know cholera is water borne, Lelouch does not, at least not for certain.
> 
> The health research I did for this chapter was pretty interesting, but also pretty shocking. Washing your hands seems pretty intuitive, but it took until the 19th century for handwashing to become common in hospitals and similar. The man who discovered how important it was, Semmelweis, was even mocked for the theory until Pasteur proved germ theory in 1860-1864. John Snow's cholera map was in 1854.
> 
> I hope the medical drama of this chapter was interesting. I'm sorry if anyone was reading this fic to escape from all the Covid worries only to get hit with a fictional pandemic. Historical fictional pandemic? Whatever. It was a real pandemic, just written into a fictional universe.
> 
> I'm sorry if I ruined the timeline for anyone by introducing exploding-shell naval guns two years late. Just imagine Paixhans died somewhere.


	9. A Variety of Incidents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I went back and changed last chapter because I was really unsatsified with how I made the story, like genuinely lying in bed and thinking "Why did I do that?" the answer was to force conflict, have a historical reference, and sound cool. Not sure what I'll do with the old version- might just tack it onto the end of this fic if I ever finish it. Didn't want to disappoint anyone by making an edit and tricking people into thinking it was a chapter, so I waited a bit even if that meant leaving up work I wasn't proud of. So go back and read the revised version of the last chapter, although it's the exact same up until the meeting with Metternich so you can start from there. It's also a little shorter, I think.
> 
> While you're here, thank you so much for reading. Seeing this story pass 100 hits meant the world to me.

Napoleon Bonaparte II did not get many visitors. Sure, Corsica wasn't completely isolated, but it was his prison. Emphasis on his, as he ruled as Prince of the island, a signori like those of the olden days on an island that had its nobility gutted by the French Revolution.

The island already had a preexisting republican government, so he largely let them run their own country. He was no Corsican, as much of an alien to the island as the stout Percheron horse he rode through the vineyards of Corsica when he wasn't inside, studying warfare or playing chess with the small unit of soldiers sent to accompany him. All of them were loyal to him, and he supposed that if he really wanted to, he could escape to the French mainland, maybe attempt to dredge up support for a restoration of a Bonaparte to the throne, although he didn't have the same public support that his father did.

His life was regular, and so a ship flying the naval standard of Britannian Sicily- well, wasn't it Britannian Italy now?- was certainly a break from the norm. The craft was small, a speedy little sloop as opposed to the hulking battleships that ruled the high seas, but it was a break from the boredom of day to day life, even if the ship was only revealed to be carrying a letter from mainland Italy, along with a few cases of wine. His bright mood was dampened by the wax seal, the color of black ink. In many circles, black ink meant ill tidings, like death, although Bonaparte didn't have many people left in his life to mourn over.

_Bonaparte,_

_I hope that this letter reaches you in good health, in fact I hope it finds all of Corsica in good health. Apologies for the black seal, but I needed to express urgency, and warn you of a tremendous potential for death. A disease is spreading in Italy, called cholera, which can kill a man in days through dehydration. I have reason to believe it spreads through the water or at least through the diarrhea the disease causes, although I would remain cautious and quarantine any visitors to the island. With caution, you could probably dampen the effects of the disease greatly._

_Sincerely,_

_Lelouch vi Britannia_

That was certainly unfortunate news, and after making sure that the crew of the Italian sloop would stay and potentially spread the illness, he rode to the parliament in Ajaccio.

\------

In one of the great ironies of history, the French invasion of Germany would only serve to create stronger German states in the end, even if it took up to two decades for the French to loose control over them. The Imperial states of the old Empire had been reorganized into larger states as well as receiving ecclesiastical land due to French secularization.

Prussia stood as the strongest German power of all these states, rivaled only by the Empire of the Danube, who were too focused on their many non-German holdings, especially the revolting Italians, to try to achieve hegemony among the German powers, and so they played no part in the forming of a German confederation. It was nothing approaching an overarching state, but it linked the kings and princes of the ex-Holy Roman Empire in a defensive pact and a few tentative discussions were underway about a customs union.

Even if the Danubian Empire couldn't check Prussia inside the confederation, it still remained weak and plagued by indecision from within, at least in the beginning. A similar lack of direction was found in their northwestern neighbors, where the Dutch provinces were still stuck in an interregnum, with the States General controlling all matters of state as Catholic Flemings and Walloons protested the appointment of a Protestant from the north. In the short term, the country was running almost like a republic, although the threat of force from the reactionary powers of Europe meant that the debate should draw itself to a close- eventually.

\------

The three armies marched into a ruined St. Petersburg, the city scorched by flame, and resistance from the liberals was largely futile, as their defensive works and stores were as damaged by the flames as everything else was. Schneizel was glad that the embassy hadn't burned down, but the lack of any authority in Russia proved troubling.

Hours of frantic searching by loyalists did eventually yield something, or rather someone: a surviving member of the Imperial Family, who had managed to hide themselves away in some small pocket where the smoke and rubble couldn't reach them. Unfortunately, said surviving member of the Imperial Family was Alexander II, the eight year old son of Nicholas, the man who would have become Tsar if Konstantin's refusal to take the throne was made public.

The boy would have been heir apparent if things had gone a little differently, but now he ruled one of the greatest empires in Europe, from the flowing waters of the Vistula in Russian Poland to the shivering coasts of Kamchatka. Senior military officers and court officials were already jockeying for the position of regent to the boy emperor. Back to business as usual for Schneizel, although the news of the young Tsar would be critical to good relations with Russia in the future- considering how many wives Emperor Charles had, surely there was a sister of his around Alexander's age…

\------

The failure of Washington's Rebellion led to massive installations of nobility in the colonies, and many second or third sons were given a chance to start cadet branches in the Americas. The nobility certainly had a few issues adapting to colonial rule, but they put down roots wherever the empire conquered, from the Cape to more recent conquests in regions like the Spanish colonies, from La Plata to Louisiana. Of course, these ex-Spanish territories didn't particularly want to be Britannian, but that just meant more wars to be won and titles to be granted.

When Lelouch vi Britannia won his bid for Italy, many nobles started thinking about what would be done with all that land. While there were rumors of disturbingly Jacobin tendencies from the Sicilian Prince in addition to the fact that Britannian Sicily was perhaps the only portion of the Empire with an actual, non-lip service constitution, many nobles were still interested.

International recognition of his conquests, in addition to the Emperor expanding the viceroyalty from Sicily to include all of Italy inflamed this interest. More romantic nobles mused that this was another triumph against Rome by the Britannian line, with all of Italy and the Eternal City itself under the rule of a son of Britannia. More practically, there was money to be made, titles to awarded, or at least that was what the nobility figured. Rarer than both was the occasional liberal noble, who wished to go to Italy for the same reason peasant groups like the Peat Gatherers had, to live somewhere a little less absolutist without being seen as abandoning their country.

So dozens of chartered boats sailed for Italy, unsure of just how Lelouch vi Britannia would receive them, and completely unaware of the festering disease that was already spreading in much of Southern Europe.

\------

Technically, Metternich had requested that he hunt down revolutionary societies in his portion of Italy, to prevent them from causing trouble across the Piave, but Lelouch saw no reason to waste this pre-organized resistance to the Danubian powers, he just needed them to apply themselves differently. Less violence against Danubian officials or causing unrest, more gathering information. Knowing exactly how many soldiers they would be facing if combat broke out would be worth a lot more to Lelouch than a bit of rabble rousing.

As it turned out, finding revolutionaries wasn't exactly as easy as asking around on the streets, even if Lelouch was technically on their side, when it came to Italian unification. Getting cozy with the rebels would take a while, so Lelouch started work on other projects- it wasn't like they didn't lack workers.

Firstly, a long line of semaphore towers, following the curve of the Alps, to make sure that no force entering Italy would catch him off guard, and he ordered the construction of great macadam roads to speed the movement of his armies as well, in addition to restoring the Roman roads tracing the countryside. Foundations were being laid for a factory, hopefully the first of many, using schematics given to him by Lloyd, and artisans were already working on the complex parts.

Italy may not be as perfect for industrialization as Britannia proper was, but he wasn't going to miss out on something as important as this. They had experimented with some small scale gunpowder production in Sicily before, exploiting the excess of sulphur on the island, but this would hopefully be the start of the Italian industrial revolution, now that the country was unified.

A lot his activity would be restrained to Venice in the near future, but he sent orders to start work on factories in the south as well, particularly in Naples. The city was vast, and all those laborers could produce an incredible amount of textiles if provided with cotton from the Ottoman Empire, Egypt especially. Cholera was going to be bad for the cities and therefore bad for industrialization, but other than the measures he sent out, he couldn't do too much to fight the disease, at least for now.

\------

Lelouch had the pleasure of observing the elections for the Senate in Venice, although Lelouch supposed that the structure of their senate made practically every politician one of the Populares, if speaking in Roman terms. Of course, this was in large part due to the fact that there weren't many nobles left after the French descended upon Italy, so most politicians by their nature were more like the tribunes of the plebeians than the patricians of old, even if a fair number of the elected were on the richer side.

He also took steps to make sure that cholera wouldn't hit as hard in Venice, especially considering the Grand Canal that meandered through the city. If his theory about cholera was correct, then the potential implications of the disease spreading into the city were enough to make his head swim. It seemed like Britannian trading ships from India were the root cause of the cholera outbreak, so seeing Britannian ships on the horizon sent a chill down his spine as he rode to the docks.

As it turned out, the ships weren't from Brittannian India, although Lelouch still insisted on sending them to the Lazaretto, to make sure they weren't carrying something. Many of the nobles who had traveled to meet him were, to put it simply, a little upset with being placed in quarantine. Most of the nobles had sailed to Italy in hopes of entering the administration or pleading for titles, which obviously wouldn't work out with the very republican leaning constitutional monarchy Lelouch was trying to encourage in Italy. Some of the nobles were interested in military command though, and the sheer lack of officers the military was suffering from meant that he was practically forced to accept them, although as paid officers and not as landed nobility. He definitely wasn't planning on placing them in charge of the Britannian volunteer brigades, because that was a recipe for tension,but they were a welcome addition, even if many of them couldn't speak much Italian.

Some of the nobles just came to escape Britannian absolutism, which was certainly a relief, although Lelouch hoped that this wouldn't be the start of more waves of immigration. The Britannian nobility in particular subscribed to a fairly moralizing view of the world that saw success as a direct indication of goodness and favor from God while misfortune was a clear sign of moral failing, and Lelouch didn't want such an odious understanding of the world trickling into Italy. The Romans started Latinizing people by installing Romans in the highest levels of administration, and while Jeremiah was Britannian through and through, only learning Italian by necessity, he wasn't enough to really impact Sicily, especially considering how Lelouch leaned into his image as an Italian. The last thing Lelouch wanted Italy to be was a Britannian colony, especially one that adopted Britannian culture wholesale. He couldn't exactly start complaining about the spread of Britannian culture considering how Italy benefited from Asplund, but he didn't want to see Italian culture warped beyond recognition by a foreign power.

It seemed like most of the noble immigrants were interested in seeing him personally, so they traveled to Venice to meet him, and once it was clear they weren't suffering from cholera he let them out into Italy proper. While he didn't plan on giving them land, some of them proved more than helpful when discussing modern farming practices or Britannian industry, so Lelouch was happy to keep a few of them around.

\------

Of course, things didn't go according to plan. Apparently, some second son from a ducal house that came to plead for a title didn't take the rejection well and went out to get wildly drunk on Italian wines. While not very fitting of a noble, fondness of the drink was certainly not a crime, at least not until he picked a fight with some of the locals and managed to kill two of them with his sword while teetering drunk.

The locals and the army were baying for blood, but the murderer himself seemed pretty calm about the whole situtation, reassured that killing a couple of commoners, especially non-Britannian commoners wasn't that big of a deal, and perhaps in the colonies it wouldn't have been. Due to Lelouch's proximity it was decided he serve as a judge, especially considering the murder's pedigree. As viceroy, he could execute a noble if he truly thought it was necessary, and he was sure that the issues this would cause with the nobility would only be worse if the verdict was passed by a local court.

Executing nobility had a very bad look in the court ever since the French Revolution really got bloody, and with the exception of treason it was almost never done. Titles may be revoked or the family may be exiled to a holding in far-flung Rupert's Land or some other colony, but executions only happened in the case of treason. However, Lelouch's law code and the Italian constitution made one thing clear: equal rights for all men, and Lelouch intended to fulfill that part of the law. No one, regardless of bloodline, was above the law, and if it came down to it, he'd rather enrage the Britannian court than his own people.

Of course, Lelouch wasn't going to execute a man without evidence, but it was damning. Dozens of witnesses had seen the noble scion use his sword to kill two locals, and he really didn't argue against the fact.

"In the name of Charles zi Britannia, Emperor of Britannia, King of Italy, Ireland, and France, Duke of Lancaster and Defender of the Faith, I, Lelouch vi Britannia, as Viceroy of Italy and Prince of Britannia, hereby condemn the criminal to death for murder." The moment Lelouch made his sentence, the criminal's face turned chalky while the commoners in the room murmured with excitement. It wasn't quite attainder, where a noble's titles were stripped as well as the ability to pass them on, but it was the closest Britannia had seen in years.

\------

Venice was home to one of the largest manufacturing processes in the world before the Industrial Revolution, the Venetian Arsenal, which could produce a galley in around a day at its height. Napoleonic rule had dismembered the shipyards, but during their day they were an industrial marvel, where each worker would focus on one particular part of the ships before they were all assembled together.

Speaking of navies, Asplund was traveling to Venice by sea, having finished his work in Sardinia, and apparently he was bringing a new naval gun that could fire exploding shells horizontally, although it was much larger than the average piece used by his armies. Lelouch was no admiral, but he could recognize the value of being able to use explosive shells in naval battle. Perhaps they would have to develop a countermeasure of some kind? Iron plating on the side of a normal ship might improve the chances of survival, although it might slow the ship, although such a problem might be alleviated by a paddle steamer? Of course, the paddle wheel would be a major weakness, but a floating battery that could blow enemy ships apart would be a terrifying weapon indeed.

Paddle steamers were another idea that had been in the works for a while, although the problem at the moment was producing enough steam engines to meet demand, although a few had already been finished for the first fabric mills. It was a beautiful sort of symbiosis, more efficient looms being fed more thread by more efficient spinning technology like the spinning mule, which increased demand for cotton. He hoped to make a steel mill somewhere, perhaps in Tuscany, to exploit the iron mines of Elba.

\------

Asplund was seeming determined to never focus on anything for an extended length of time, and his next interest was something the French had developed during the throes of the revolution: the hot air balloon. There was something incredible about the idea of flight, but there were also tremendous military applications for such a balloon. With a viewpoint in the sky, the battlefield would be as easy to observe as a chess board, and the idea of striking the foe with cannon without even needing to see them was incredible.

Of course, like so many of Asplund's inventions, it was expensive, as the body of the balloon was to composed of taffeta silk, some of the lightest fabric available. Hopefully, after the initial investment into the balloon, it would require less expensive maintenance and some burnable fuel each flight. Of course, it would pay back its price many fold if it proved reliable, and some of the officers were discussing flag signals to be used to communicate the status of the battlefield from above. It wasn't steerable, and would probably require rope to keep it drifting away from the battlefield or even over enemy positions.

After an initial test where the balloon simply went up in the air then came back down, the next issue to be faced was carrying a man up and bringing him back down alive. The passenger was supposed to land via parachute, a sort of silk dome that would slow a falling object down through drag. Rather obviously, there was a lack of volunteers to potentially jump from a great height and splatter against the ground, but when Lelouch offered a monetary reward, one of his Sicilian soldiers stepped forward.

"Your highness." He gave a clumsy sort of bow. "If I… don't survive this, please get the money to my family." Lelouch nodded, it really was the least he could do for the man if he did perish.

The balloon rose into the air once more, although not quite as high as it did when it was unencumbered, but eventually Lelouch had to use a telescope to see the man, who was looking down in deep amaze. Eventually, the balloon began to slowly descend down and the soldier leapt, tumbling through the air for a second before the parachute spread out and his descent slowed.

The man hit the ground with a tumble and stayed laying on the ground as Lelouch, Asplund, and company ran over to see if he had survived. Fortunately, the man didn't die, but was instead staring up at the sky, his eyes wide. "Are you alright?"

The soldier sat up, and rose to his feet. "I am. The landing was a little rough, but it was worth it, to see the world as the angels do."

"What's your name, soldier?"

"I'm Vittorio Russo, your highness."

Lelouch smiled and tossed the man his pay. "Perhaps you could assist Sir Asplund? You're the only Italian yet who's managed to fly. Our first aeronaut, perhaps."

\------

The subject of flight was certainly a fascinating one, and Lloyd wandered off with Croomy and Russo to test his balloon more while Lelouch puzzled over finances. Italy wasn't poor, exactly, but it had been a long time since the Venetians and Genoans made their fortunes off of the Silk Road. Sure, there were a lot of people to tax and Italy still played a key part in the Mediterranean trade, as limited as it was, but once their obligations to the Britannian Empire and their reparations to the Empire of the Danube were factored in, along with the costs of running a government and fielding a military, the budget was still in the black, although just barely.

He sat in the Doge's Palace, wondering how exactly he could revitalize the Italian economy, when he realized that he was sitting less than two miles away from one of the country's most famed industries. When Napoleon seized Venice, it wasn't just the Arsenal that suffered for it; the collapse of the Venetian state had also led to a economic downturn for the glass makers of Murano, an island off Venice where skilled artisans produced glass as clear as crystal or milkglass that could pass for porcelain of Saxon or Chinese make.

The Viceroyalty of Italy was in a curious place when it came to trade, under Britannian control but not subject to quite all their laws- including, conveniently enough, a tax on glass manufacturing that crippled Britannian production.

"Jeremiah?"

"Yes, your highness?"

"We're visiting Murano."

\------

The Muranese were happy to greet him, especially when he revealed his intent to help revitalize the glass industry. The glassmakers had found themselves there mainly because the risk of fire was to great to risk the entire city of Venice on, although it was just as divided by canals as the city it neighbored.

The glass was some of the finest Lelouch had ever seen, and while he saw tremendous potential for profit, he knew that if he just dropped tariffs on the glass makers it would mean no real profit. Sure, he was going to economically exploit the Muranese glass industry, but to do so he needed to make their glass so desired that the tariffs wouldn't put them out of business. Reuben Ashford would be great at selling all that glass, Lelouch was sure.

It turned out that steam engines might be able to help out here as well, in the process of polishing and processing the glass, and he made plans to get one to them- as well as to start mass production of the engines. Italy would certainly need them.

\------

Eventually, Lelouch got in contact with the rebels hiding out in his borders, and they were more than happy to help him get information on the Danubians, so he let them stay around with a warning to make their activities more subtle.

Reports were that a large portion of the Danubian Royal-Imperial army was just across the Piave, somewhere around 120,000 men, which was thought to be around half of the full strength of the standing Austrian army, although some 30,000 were sent to stomp out the liberal revolt in Russia, leaving the country garrisoned by around 210,000 men in the standing army, plus whatever soldiers they could conscript and whatever impromptu irregulars might take shape if war began.

In the short term, they outnumbered him about 7 to 2, and the ratio would worsen to 4 to 1 once the Russian expedition came to an end, and that was assuming that the reactionary powers didn't try to pull a coalition on him. Of course, he could expand the army more, but that would only worsen problems with a lack of training and a small officer corps, not to mention potential economic issues. In the short term at least, Italy wasn't ready for war, and Lelouch was grateful to the Britannian Empire, at least in its capacity to act as a threat against anyone who got funny ideas about Italy.

\------

The people of Venice were informed of the symptoms of cholera, as Lelouch saw no reason in warning the people of an illness if they couldn't even recognize it, and they seemed to be taking his advice about being cautious when picking places to draw their water. Of course, given the fact that it was winter and Venice wasn't exactly covered in trees, boiling water wasn't as common as Lelouch had hoped. People simply had better things to do with their wood then spending it to boil water for the sake of their viceroy's eccentricities.

To make up for this, Lelouch made sure to keep track of how things were going in Venice, to make sure that if a case of potential cholera was caught, the victim could be isolated quickly. From there, the best treatment that could be given was to give the victim as much food and drink as could be afforded. At first, they fought the dehydration using just water, but then someone realized that part of the reason the disease was so deadly might be because it sapped the body of nutrients and not just water.

Lelouch could have kissed the nun who came up with that particular idea, and he sent news of it to the rest of Italy. Of course, that didn't mean the disease was over, but there was something more effective they could do than just leaving a victim in their own filth or trickling them water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charles is totally the kind of dude who would keep the title King of France just because he's stubborn. The British monarchs still styled themselves Kings of France until the French Revolution in our timeline.
> 
> Spain actually did own Louisiana for a period between the Seven Year's War and the Napoleonic War. Spain traded off the territory for land in Tuscany, so let's say just in this timeline Spain was still holding onto the colonial dream instead of trying to get in on Italy.
> 
> Since Darwinism isn't a thing yet, I translated that into a sort of twisted version of moralism, where success was due to Providence and rightness of character, sort of a proto-Social Darwinism where those who succeed are inherently good.
> 
> As always, I'm curious to hear what y'all think. Yet again, thank you very much for reading. Something about my silly brain just sets my heart a racing when I see numbers get big. Sorry if this chapter felt a little rambly- maybe I just feel a little cautious about pushing the story forward too much without really thinking it through.


	10. Mare Nostrum?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the length of time between chapters, but exams, some plot ideas for oneshots, Christmas stuff, etc. got in the way. To make it up to everyone, this should be a little longer than usual, not that I have a consistent length for these things.
> 
> I'm sorry if last chapter felt a little… scattered, but there's so much interesting history out there, you know? I'm trying to hem myself in at least a little when it comes to including new technology (not planning for nitroglycerin or guncotton, as cool as they are) but I do want to include some more interesting niche stuff. I mean I could make Lloyd invent TNT, but I the thing that I always liked about Lelouch was the cunning and ability to use what he had at hand in brilliant ways.

At long last, the Persian campaign was over, a new shah installed and concessions made, but Cornelia was already preparing for another trip with Euphemia in tow. News from Europe was slow and could take months to arrive, but she assumed the reason she was to sail for Malta had something to due with Lelouch's Italian campaign. The news reached her while on the march, and while things seemed to be going well from what she had last heard and the war could already be decided, there was also a possibility she would be desperately needed on some front if the war had spiraled beyond her brother's control.

She would be traveling with Euphemia, of course, but her personal retinue and her Knight/aide-de-camp Guilford would be accompanying her. Of course, she hadn't accomplished the campaign with just her personal guard, but she wasn't taking the Indian Sepoys that made up the bulk of her previous campaign's force with her. Cornelia frequently found herself whipping the forces she was given into shape, whether they were Bengali sepoys or colonial guards from the Americas, and she was skilled at adapting to the forces she commanded while also improving upon them.

Cornelia was all to happy to leave- the Persian campaign had proven one of her most costly yet, and a strange disease was spreading among the rank and file. It was always difficult to reduce the spread of disease on campaigns, but this particular disease was endemic, spreading over much of India. Large portions of Britannian India were suffering under the disease, and it spread just as ferociously in what independent states remained on the subcontinent, and Cornelia wondered if this bout of disease would drive the East India Company to do the Sikhs or Sindhi in.

The trip would take perhaps five months or more just to reach Gibraltar, but that meant at least five months of time spent with her sister instead of leaving her in a palace somewhere while Cornelia led in the field.

* * *

The Romans had a concept called the Mare Nostrum, which first referred to the Tyrrhenian Sea and then eventually the entirety of the Mediterranean Sea as they ascended to hegemony. Lelouch could possibly claim the first, as he did rule most of the land surrounding the Tyrrhenian: Italy proper, Sicily, and Sardinia, although Napoleon II ruled Corsica.

Of course, Lelouch certainly couldn't claim the second, although before the Italians could truly call either "our sea" a navy would have to be established. The country had a merchant marine, of course, Lelouch had used a portion of those ships to sail to Genoa in the first place, but they were lacking in warships. Of course, the Italian navy wasn't intended to be a wooden wall as the Britannian navy was, but they needed to be able to project naval power. The main reason Lelouch was so keen to invest in the navy was a simple one: the pirates of the Barbary coast.

The corsairs of the Barbary states were a terror of the Mediterranean, and while Sicily's status as a Britannian naval base usually prevented raids, Lelouch knew full well that developing a functioning navy would be a key step to fending off raids on coastal towns or Italian shipping, or in putting an end to the pirates once and for all. The pirates were nominally under Ottoman control, although the Beys of the Barbary coast tended to raid as they pleased, and now that they didn't have a certain, defined target in the Revolutionary French, Lelouch knew they could prove to be a major threat.

Of course, the problem was finding a solution to their lack of a navy without drastically worsening their economic situation, and Lelouch was already stressing about budgets without worrying about maintaining a large navy on top of that. Lelouch's current plans called for a small fleet of low lying paddle steamers, armed with Lloyd's new exploding shell guns. The new technology would be expensive, but fielding something like a ship of the line would require a small army's worth of cannon, as opposed to a few guns, or maybe even just one per ship if an appropriate turret design could be drawn up.

They also had plans to expand the merchant marine, with hopes of increasing revenues through trade. Lelouch and Lord Asplund had gone over some of Lloyd's old plans and found something very intriguing: an iron hulled sailing ship. Of course, there were some situations where a steamship might prove itself better, but at the high seas, far from a coaling station, this new ship could really prove itself. Iron required less maintenance than wood, meant hulls could be made thinner, and with steel mills being built it was suddenly going to get a lot cheaper.

Of course, it was also going to be a display of Italian industrial might and would show the world they were more than just an accessory to the Britannian state. Ashford seemed especially enthused by the designs, and while it would probably take a year or more for the plans to come to fruition, he was already planning a trip to London to sell Italian glass and wine, in addition to showing the ship off to the court. On a military level, Lelouch hoped that a massive iron hulled sailing ship would be more noticeable than the exploding-shell patrol ships that would form the backbone of their navy in the near future. Of course, all of this naval planning was relatively long term, and wouldn't be ready for months or even years.

At the very least, they had one key naval supply in tremendous quantity: citrus. Britannia had a truly tremendous demand for citrus fruits, which had started with lemons but transformed into limes as the Continental System throttled Britannian trade with the Mediterranean. West Indian limes were a favorite to fight scurvy, and with control over Italy proper there was a lot of citrus to work with, which would hopefully be a boon to Italian trade, both as merchandise and to stock their expeditions with.

Sadly, funding the new ships did mean that several other projects wouldn't pan out in the short term due to lack of investment. Lelouch had hoped to experiment with large scale firing exercises and artillery- he hoped to invest in lighter pieces and possibly even rockets to bolster any campaign that might take place in or near the mountains to the north. Britannia had already fielded rockets in battle before, and Lelouch thought they were an intriguing possibility, especially to deal with flammable targets, which would make them a fine addition to the navy, if he had the funding.

Of course, his concerns weren't entirely martial, and while he did set aside some funds for infrastructure and Lloyd's railroads, it never felt like enough. Lelouch also hoped to invest in the Italian people, and education was to be one of his long term goals, but he felt naval power should be a priority in the short term- you couldn't just make a navy overnight.

On the subject of education, he found an interesting solution that wouldn't tax the country's resources, at least quite as much as government run schools. Lelouch had noticed an uncommon trend of literacy in the Peat Gathers, which he assumed to be the cause for their liberal leanings: a man who could read could absorb the works of thinkers like Locke and Rousseau and grow discontent with the Britannian government, making the Peat Gatherers rather self selecting; however, Lelouch was surprised to learn that many of the men had learned the basics of literacy from their churches, and education wasn't nearly as rare as he thought. Of course, their education didn't have the same breadth and depth of Lelouch's years of tutoring, but Sunday Schools that taught literacy and religious doctrine were fairly common. Lelouch supposed that even he could get a little caught up in his ego and forget that the normal people of Britainnia might desire an education as well. It certainly was an interesting idea, and Lelouch wrote a letter explaining the concept and sent it to the Pope. He supposed that he was in something of a privileged position if he could write directly to the Pope and expect an answer, and even if he wasn't religious he appreciated the Pope's sway and the influence the Church held.

Although Lelouch had to pay obligations to both the Empire of the Danube and the Empire of Britannia, as a viceroy he had a lot of economic sway over the country, even if the parliament still controlled things like levying taxes. As long as Britannian Viceroys were paying their proper dues to the Empire and their domains weren't collapsing in on themselves, Charles gave the Viceroys surprising amounts of autonomy to run their little absolutist realms however they saw fit. Some of Lelouch's more forward thinking siblings, perhaps in hopes of proving themselves worthy of the throne, stayed frugal and devoted their funds to public works and the like. However, for every Viceroy displaying forward thinking skills and good husbandry, there was one spending the money however they pleased.

Clovis in particular was famed for this- he had been appointed as Viceroy of the Cape, and basically stumbled into ruling one of the richest portions of the Empire after the French embargo cut off the nobility from their beloved wine. Sure, other parts of the world did grow grapes and the royal family even had their own private vineyards in England, but the when a demand presented itself, the Cape was one of the major parts of the empire that made up the slack (at least for those nobles willing to pay out the nose for their drink). Apparently, one of the nobles in the region had a passion for viticulture, and it was his initiative that led to the Cape's presence on the wine scene. Despite the costs of shipping the wine from one end of the world to the other, the wine was sold as being a "patriotic" alternative to continental wines. The nobility were willing to pay to maintain appearances and throw lavish parties, and when Clovis got his Viceroyship he certainly made use of that money: patronage of artists, the creation of sprawling menageries of exotic creatures, and the construction of a sprawling palatial complex known as Pendragon. Of course, significant portions of those funds also went to funding Clovis' own proclivities, and rumors of his general rakishness even reached Sicily.

Lelouch hoped to get in on the wine trade, or at least appeal to the Britannian middle class by presenting them with "Britannian" (in one sense of the word) wine that would by its nature be cheaper than the famed South African sort due to only having to be shipped from Italy to England instead of having to partake in a trip around a large portion of Africa. Of course, he would face competition from other European countries in this arena given that the Continental System was no longer strangling trade, but for now buying wine from the Viceroyalties was in vogue among the nobility, and richer Britannian commoners were very fond of trying to mimic the nobility's style even if they couldn't afford the greatest excesses.

* * *

A new session of the Senate had finally begun, with actual elected officials running the country, and while it wasn't completely alien to the Italians who had spent years under French rule, for the Peat Gatherers and other Britannians, it was quite the novel experience to live in a constitutional monarchy as opposed to an absolutist one.

The sovereignty the Italian state enjoyed even while being a part of Britannia was certainly a stark contrast to the treatment other Britannian territories received. While due to sheer distance they usually had to be ruled by viceroys, they tended to follow the same absolutist model of the original state, and many of the other parts of the empire required garrisoning to stop revolts. The new world colonies in particular were hotbeds of malcontent, especially those recently pried from Spanish control.

If circumstances ever lead to Italy becoming independent, Lelouch certainly wouldn't follow in his ancestor's footsteps by beginning colonial conquests. It just seemed impossible to sustain in the long term, and any economic gains would be negated or severely dampened by the costs of a conquest and keeping the conquered territory docile and productive. Perhaps he was wrong, and colonies were the key to long term sustainability, but he certainly couldn't devote forces to colonial conquests even if he wanted to, considering the neighbors Italy had.

However, potential Italian independence could be bolstered by those same factors. Britannia had diverse lands it needed to keep in check, and pulling away too many men from any of them could cause unrest leading to even more territorial loss. That did mean that Italy wouldn't have to face the full might of the Britannian Army at any point in time, but even then Italy's strength wasn't on par with what Britannia could bring to bear. Perhaps in time things would be different, but for now Italy would stay under Britannian rule, freer than just about every other Imperial territory in the world.

The trickle of Britannian nobility had seemed to peter out, although commoner immigration to the country was much more frequent. The Britannian Empire by its nature led to many people being downtrodden, and the situation was made worse by a lack of any real places to run away to. The new world was largely Britannian, the parts that weren't were at great risk of becoming Britannian, and a majority of Europe wasn't much better when it came to political freedoms. The Britannian volunteers Lelouch had picked up so early on were just some of the more enthusiastic, and now that Italy was secured people proved more willing to move in, especially those who didn't have great prospects anywhere else. Lelouch certainly wasn't going to stop people if they wanted to become part of Italy (as long as they weren't causing a stir, obviously), although he made sure to get news about the cholera epidemic out to everyone, including port officials, so any immigrants fresh off the boat were aware of the disease.

Close oversight on Lelouch's part had managed to keep the spread of cholera very limited in Venice so far, although he heard worrying news of piles of dead in the big cities, places like Milan, Rome, Naples, and Palermo. That last one was especially painful for Lelouch- it was certainly his home more than Britannia was, and he was loath to see his people suffer, although his duties now meant that all of Italy was now, at least in part, his responsibility, so even if he wanted to rush over and coordinate a response, he couldn't.

His contacts across the Danubian border were giving him reports of the disease spreading among coastal cities in the empire, and the dissidents were even kind enough to provide him with translated newspapers when they could get their hands on some. The good news was that Lelouch and Italy weren't being vilified as malicious spreaders of the disease, although the disease hadn't really spread inland quite yet. Lots of cases in the Danubian Adriatic in cities like Trieste, but for now Vienna herself seemed safe, although there were worrying reports from the cities of Buda and Pest.

In the west, newspapers spoke of cases in Toulon and Brest, although Lelouch had recently received a letter from Napoleon II confirming that they were taking measures to prevent the spread. As of yet, Lelouch wasn't getting much news about the Turks, so he couldn't predict happenings in the Levant with certainty.

* * *

Lelouch's efforts to modernize the country happened to borrow heavily from Britannia's playbook when it came to things like industrialization, although he tried to keep his mind open to see if any other parts of the world came up with things that were useful.

For example, Lelouch had received interesting reports about Muhammad Ali Pasha, a viceroy of the Ottoman Empire who shared quite a few similarities with Lelouch's own reign. The Albanian ruler of Ottoman Egypt certainly had his work cut for him when it came to modernization, and was playing catch-up with Western Europe in general, although he handled it well. Before Lelouch had exploited unrest in French Italy to further his own ambitions, the Pasha of Egypt had conquered the minor kingdoms and tribes of the Sudan by himself, bringing great portions of the Upper Nile under his control. The man's ambitions were similar to his own, although with time the Pasha had the potential to threaten the Ottoman Empire while Lelouch most certainly did not have the capacity to really go on the offense against Britannia.

In addition, Muhammad Ali's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan, was attempting to modernize as well, hiring gunners and advisors to reform the Turkish Army, although Lelouch had heard reports of unrest among the Ottoman Janissary class about this. Almost like the Roman Praetorian Guard, the Janissary Corps had tremendous sway in the politics of the Empire, and the Sultans who opposed them tended to meet unfortunate ends.

* * *

True enough, Sultan Mahmud's hiring of European military experts eventually sparked a revolt in the middle of July, and the Janissary Corps which had served the Ottoman Empire for centuries, since before the fall of Constantinople and Eastern Rome in 1453 were crushed by the Sultan's other forces. This left the Ottomans in an unfortunate position of having roughly 130,000 fewer soldiers, and at a different point in time the other powers of Europe might have tried to exploit the situation, but with the Empire of the Danube stamping out the Italians and Russia's regency, it seemed like the Sultan had picked a good time for military reform.

Of course, Lelouch wasn't looking to pick a fight right now, and as such it seemed like the Turks were in a good position to recover their strength with no real opposition. Of course, there was the potential of the Regent in Russia pushing for something, but all the political finagling would take a while to pan out, giving the Turks time to renovate their armies.

There was also the chance of the Pasha trying something funny, and while Lelouch didn't have anything approaching a full understanding of the man's psyche, if Lelouch was in a similar situation he would do to his best to exploit it.

* * *

The hot summer weather wasn't insufferable for Lelouch (he was from Sicily, after all) but it brought on some concerns of its own other than just making sure there was enough saltpeter to cool their drinks. Even as laborers worked in the fields, comparatively mundane diseases such as malaria spread during the summers. The lack of rain in the summer did mean that water levels didn't rise severely, but Lelouch certainly wasn't expecting that to slow the spread of cholera.

Malaria was another interesting disease, and fighting it would be helpful for Italy, although Lelouch had no idea to start with fighting the disease, if he even had the time. It was very common around Tuscany and the Pontine Marshes south of Rome, and it was widely believed to be spread by a foul miasma in the air around swamps. In fact, that theory was practically reflected name, considering that the disease's name literally came from earlier Italian and quite literally meant "bad air".

Cases were common along the length of the Po as well, and there were also significant numbers around Venice proper. This led Lelouch to the conclusion that the disease was water borne in some way, but Lelouch could predict very little about it otherwise. One of the only effective ways to fight the disease was with cinchona bark, which was difficult to acquire in Italy. The malaria certainly wasn't reaching epidemic status as cholera was, but it was something to be cautious about, and Lelouch would refrain from setting up camp near marshes.

For now, the army remained in a state of fairly constant drill, although they were having issues integrating the newer recruits. Doubling the size of the army from 30,000 to 60,000 caused quite a few issues in the command structure, especially considering that there wasn't anything approaching a doubling in the size of the officer corps. Italy wasn't exactly lacking in military schools, but like many other things, an officer's education was something that came with time. In another break from Britannian tradition, Lelouch aimed for a completely merit based officer system as opposed to commission buying, (not that such a system always led to total incompetence) as selling commissions had the side effect of limiting some forms of advancement to those rich enough to pay their way in and slowing advancement for the poor, although the process of commission buying served as a sort of insurance to prevent gross incompetence.

Commissions were a tricky thing, and it was perfectly possible to advance through the ranks without them (although the highest echelons of the military simply couldn't be reached without noble or possibly even royal birth). Britannian pragmatism definitely extended to the lower ranks of military command, and those who bought their positions tended to sink or swim rather quickly, weeding out inadequate commanders during wartime rather violently. An officer incompetent enough to die in battle would have his position filled by a volunteer, a promotion from the ranks, or the like instead of someone who bought their commission.

Lelouch could see the system's merit, of course, and how it encouraged officers to value the men under them and assured that the officer was well off enough not to indulge in profiteering when given the chance. The social exclusivity was the real catch, and Lelouch was already taking steps to promote those men who had displayed skill previously.

While the idea of common born officers certainly wasn't alien to Britannia, it seemed to go over much better in Sicily, likely due to Marianne's influence. If a commoner could rise to become Empress, then surely one could command some infantry. To a limited extent, Jeremiah even agreed with that idea, although he tended to stumble a little when interacting with actual common soldiers who turned out very different his imagined ideal. (The ideal being rather like Marianne, of course.)

* * *

As summer ended and fall began, cholera spread into the European continent with speed, taking root in major cities on waterways and spreading from there. Cases popped in Vienna around fall along with Saint Petersburg, and Constantinople got the disease much earlier, a few months after initial cases in Sicily.

Discontent sprung up as the disease spread through Europe, and often compounded on popular discontent. The French people may not have liked Napoleon's wars very much, but that certainly didn't mean the Bourbon Restoration was welcomed with open arms, and among some circles the disease that came shortly after the Restoration would be known as the Bourbon Disease or the King's Disease, although it also had a strong association with Italy due to first appearing there, and was sometimes called the Sicilian Plague.

Confusion about how cholera spread was a large part of this unrest, and while Lelouch's theories did help to calm some Italians, they were frequently mocked by foreign intellectuals, and Lelouch's hypothesis about the disease being waterborne was frequently twisted into meaning that the disease was some sort of poison planted in the rivers by dissidents or foreign agents. The general air of mystery surrounding the disease also made people unhappy with government action taken to stop the spread.

The glamour of the Risorgimento and the unification of Italy was starting to wear off and the same disease borne discontent that plagued other countries was in Italy as well, so Lelouch divided the army into smaller units to keep the peace and to prevent spread due to having the whole army in one place. It certainly wasn't as rigorous as a campaign, but considering the experience level of some of his officers, starting out with marching around Italy, garrisoning towns, and organizing supplies was a good place to start. Lelouch decided to keep a fairly large number of soldiers near Venice: his own Sicilian guard, the Peat Gatherers (mainly because they couldn't speak the language and would be… less than helpful controlling rioting crowds), and the same number of recruits, so that his army was half veteran (in a rather limited sense, of course) and the rest were new recruits.

* * *

The colony of Malta was in an unusual position, being a previously Sicilian possession ruled by the Knights Hospitaller before its seizure by the French. However, unlike much of mainland Sicily, Malta remained under more direct Britannian control as a security measure to make sure that the autonomy given to Sicily wouldn't mean that the British navy's capacity to operate in the Mediterranean could be checked by the whims of the Sicilian Parliament.

For Cornelia's purposes, her stop at Malta finally gave her a chance to see what her new assignment was. Their stops at the Cape and Gibraltar were fast and relatively uninformative. She had gathered that Lelouch emerged triumphant in his campaign in Italy so she wouldn't be joining a war against the French, especially considering the fact the French Empire had collapsed in on itself. She had expected that Revolutionary France would start to fall apart after the death of their Emperor, but she didn't expect that it would happen so quickly and decisively.

Instead of fighting a revolutionary France that no longer existed, Cornelia was tasked with drilling and reorganizing the army of Italy, and that was the official story behind her stay. Italy was now a significant portion of the Empire's population, with enough people to rival the home islands, and as such a militia was no longer an acceptable defense, especially given the country's neighbors. Or at least that was what they would tell Lelouch while doing that, Cornelia would keep a careful eye on the Italians, and make sure their military was more in line with Britannian ideals, so to speak.

On the subject of the now unified (if not independent) Italy, Lelouch's success in his campaign of unification was a shock, although the fact that the rest of Europe let him get away with it seemed like an even greater accomplishment to Cornelia, who had just returned from a campaign stymied by politics and attempts to maintain the balance of power.

Cornelia and her entourage arrived in Malta around the middle of December, with plans of landing in Venice in the first days of 1827. While not the official capitol of the Italian state, it was where Lelouch worked from, and Cornelia certainly wasn't going to be taking orders from the Italian Parliament in Rome if she could help it. She understood why the Sicilian and then eventually Italian Parliament existed of course, and appreciated the former's role in laying a foundation for Lelouch's conquest; however, that did not mean she wanted to be ordered around by some jumped up burgesses.

Euphemia seemed exited as well, and Cornelia did share some of her excitement when it came to seeing Lelouch and Nunnally again. Cornelia's campaigns never brought her anywhere near Italy, so she hadn't seen Lelouch at all since his mother's murder and his banishment to Sicily along with Nunnally.

* * *

_PASHA OF EGYPT REVOLTS!_

_Seizing on the military disorganization caused by the abolition of the Janissary Corps, Muhammad Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, has revolted against the Sublime Porte, demanding control over the Turkish Levant. The Pasha of Egypt has long since displayed independent tendencies, conquering the Sudan for himself, but this is his first move against the Ottoman Sultans themselves._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Episode: Lelouch vi Britannia and the Beys of Barbary…. Or something to that effect.
> 
> Iron hulled sailing ships are one of the weirdest thing imaginable. Just some mad lads sailing around in the early 1900s on an iron sailboat with stores full of guano (not kidding) or something. It's so incredibly bizarre. These ships appeared as early as the 1870s, and I don't see why they couldn't be made earlier, at least in theory, although the innovations that made the crews smaller haven't been made yet. It's certainly not the most radical/timeline breaking piece of tech to take from the period, I figure.
> 
> The bit about Cape wine was originally supposed to be California, due to them having Mission Grapes, but I felt I was pushing the timeline there, as California was only really colonized in 1769 and would have fallen into Britannian control with the last decade or so, according to my canon. Some research showed that South African wine was a thing for a while by this point. That's the reason behind the Pendragon reference, but I can't imagine the Americas rising to their importance in the original show without a reason for immigration, while the Cape is going to remain important until a Suez canal is built.
> 
> Why malaria? Because the past really sucked. I love history and the people who shaped it… but oh boy, it would have sucked to live in the past. And about the popular discontent around measures to prevent disease- not just a covid thing! People rioted in Russia and England in 1831-32 about Cholera too.


	11. The Beys of Barbary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clear up tech levels, I'm trying to stick to early American civil war era stuff (meaning no maxim gun or repeating rifles) with the exception of iron-hulled sailing ships. To address a guest comment, Asplund balls are basically this universe's Minie balls. Still muzzle loading, just easier than jamming a normal ball down a rifle's muzzle.
> 
> I'm still iffy on screw/propeller ships. I mean I make the rules I suppose, but if I add them it won't be for a while. Tell me if you have any strong opinions on the paddle wheel/propeller dichotomy. They're basically the last step until reaching something like ironclads, at least something like the Monitor, so their discovery would almost certainly lead to something like proper ironclads. Too soon?

Even as Lelouch wintered in Venice, he planned to eventually take the fight to the North African coast, even if it would take months to prepare and acquire all the appropriate supplies. Much of their naval construction was taking place in and around Genoa, as it was much closer to the iron mines of Elba and the coal mines of Sardinia than Venice itself. The iron hulled sailing ship, tentatively dubbed the _Italia_ , was under construction in addition to the paddle steamers (both those armed with exploding shell guns and transport craft) but would probably take until summer to be finished, if not fall. The demand for steam engines was proving to be something of a bottleneck in production, and even with production ramping up it would take a while to get the steam engines to the ships.

Lelouch had taken an occasional visit to Genoa to check on the progress of the ships, and while the paddle steamers weren't really a surprise other than the iron sheathing and turret design, the _Italia_ was something else. Lying in the dry dock, the ship seemed unreal- the curving lines of the keel and hull wrought in iron instead of wood were beautiful, and they held a terrible sort of promise in Lelouch's eyes. Perhaps the future of warfare at sea would be found in steam and steel as opposed to sails, although crafts with paddle wheels certainly had their own disadvantages.

Despite all the activity going on Genoa, there was some naval work going in Venice as well- the conversion of some older wooden transport craft into bomb ships for the coming campaign. Despite the name, such ships were not actually rigged to explode (the proper name for a ship made to explode or burst into flame was a fire ship) but were designed around mortars instead of typical horizontal firing cannons or carronades, and dropped explosive shells (hence the name bomb) like a siege piece on land would.

It turned out that sticking a mortar inside a ship not designed for one was fairly difficult, and the shipwrights were working hard to keep the ship from crumbling apart whenever the guns fired. The ships would be useless in naval battle though- other than a few token cannons, they were worthless against other ships that were actively moving.

At the very least, all the naval construction would give him the time to study up on naval tactics, because the Barbary corsairs certainly had more naval experience than he did. The way it was looking, a majority of his spare budget during 1827 would be devoted towards preparation for the campaign; however, he knew that a short term investment like this could pay dividends if it meant he didn't have to pay the Beys' ransom for any unfortunate Italian traders they captured (it would also make trading easier, which was a great thing). The threat to Italian sailors, in addition to coastal towns, was too major for Lelouch to ignore, and there was no better time to strike now that the Pasha of Egypt and the Sultan were fighting.

The outcome of that conflict wasn't particularly important to Lelouch, as long as it drew long and kept either side from interfering. Lelouch hoped to get in and out as quickly as possible- show the pirates (and to some extent, the world) that Italy was not to be trifled with. He didn't expect to put an end to piracy in the region altogether and didn't plan on taking any land, but he decided that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure when it came to the corsairs.

* * *

News of ships arriving certainly wasn't surprising in a naval city like Venice, although Britannian royal arms were more unexpected. For a few moments, Lelouch was worried that his father had come back to visit again, but a glimpse through a telescope revealed that the issue was the similarity between the royal arms used by the Emperor and his various children.

While Lelouch had been away from the capital for years, he could still recognize the distinctive markings that set this particular flag apart from the royal standard- loaned from the noble family of Euphemia and Cornelia's mother. The prospect of a visit from some of his favorite siblings certainly improved Lelouch's mood, although he couldn't imagine Cornelia visiting Italy just for pleasure, especially considering her last station in India.

* * *

The cold winter weather, while not harsh enough to freeze the brackish water of the Venetian canals, certainly made a heartfelt reunion outdoors a little less practical, so Cornelia and Euphemia were escorted into the Doge's Palace, accompanied by the former's guards.

Cornelia and Euphemia (along with their guards) were shivering from the chill, which must have been a change of pace from the warmth of India.

"Lelouch, it's been so long!" Euphemia smiled broadly as she embraced him, and Lelouch smiled back. It had been the greater part of a decade since they met face to face, and she was one of the few members of the Imperial family Lelouch actually missed.

Cornelia was a little less excitable and remained the military decorum she was so known for, but she still gave him a smile. "We've missed both you and Nunnally. I assume she's here?"

"Of course." Lelouch led them to Nunnally's room, with Guilford in tow.

* * *

"Lelouch, who are those people with you-"

"Nunnally!"

Nunnally gave a smile as Euphemia embraced her. "Big sister Euphemia… and is that Cornelia? I'm not sure who the third person is, though."

Cornelia responded. "My aide-de-camp, Guilford. I was reassigned to Italy, and we came to see you first."

As they exchanged pleasantries, Lelouch pondered why Cornelia had been assigned to Italy. Lelouch did think that he was possibly the only person in the royal family who could fulfill the role of Viceroy of Italy without causing domestic problems. He was too tied into the fate of the Viceroyalty to be replaced without issue, so Cornelia was sent to Italy for some other reason.

Lelouch figured that her real purpose here was to be a representative of the Imperial Court, a Britannian with actual power and sway to keep him from stepping to far out of line. She might actually help with military reorganization and drill, and that was probably her official purpose if he asked; however, that certainly didn't mean Lelouch was going to give her free reign.

Eventually, after their reunion Cornelia sat down with Lelouch to discuss military matters. As Lelouch suspected, she was here to "improve drill and organization within the Italian army" and they had a discussion of the military resources Italy was capable of using. This would give Britannia a great idea of Italy's military capacity, its strengths and weaknesses, but being evasive and refusing to give Cornelia information would only raise suspicion.

"How many men are in the Italian army at this very moment?"

"Some 60,000 soldiers, although we could probably raise more if we wished. The main issue is filling the ranks with officers at the moment."

Cornelia nodded. A good officer corps wasn't the sort of thing that could be built up overnight, so in the short term they were stuck with sixty thousand, which was certainly more than what Lelouch started with at the beginning of his campaign of unification. "Where are the men stationed, then?"

"At the moment, they're spread over much of Italy, garrisoning large cities to control any unrest due to cholera."

"Cholera?"

"I suppose you may not be familiar with the name. You may have had men suffering from it in India? Diarrhea so bad it can kill a man and turn his skin blue?"

Cornelia's eyes widened. "It spread here as well?"

Lelouch nodded. "The way it's looking, it was carried here by a traveler from the East India Company, but we've taken what steps we could to slow the spread. I have a theory it's spreading through water."

"You're sure?"

"Fairly so, but that's unrelated to the matter at hand. At the moment, we have around 10,000 men in Venice proper, with the remaining 50,000 spread around the biggest cities."

"And how many of the men have seen battle?"

"Some 25,000 of my men fought Beauharnais, but only 2,500 of them are near Venice at the moment."

"Can you take me to their camp?"

* * *

Lelouch did not look forward to introducing Cornelia to the Peat Gatherers, for rather obvious reasons. The Sicilians were fairly used to Britannian royalty (or at least Lelouch and to a lesser extent Nunnally) and the Italians didn't have any real reason to dislike her (at least not yet). However, the Peat Gatherers left Britannia for the sole purpose of escaping absolutism, so they wouldn't be as happy to take orders from a woman they saw as the Emperor's personal attack dog.

They weren't anti-royal, necessarily, but they would definitely take issue with Cornelia, especially considering her fighting in India. It would be rather hypocritical to say that they were anti violence or something to that effect, but they thought a more liberal government was worth fighting for while a colonial empire was not.

At the very least, they had fallen into the military structure quickly, and shouldn't raise too many eyebrows when it came to military discipline. Of course, Lelouch hoped that discipline would hold up when in the presence of Cornelia, considering how some of the men might feel about her.

The army wasn't stationed on the isle of Venice, so they went to their camp by boat, and as the ferry sailed through the Venetian lagoon, Cornelia noticed the shipwrights scrambling to fit a mortar in one of the ships.

She turned to Lelouch, eyebrow raised expectantly. "Bomb ships? Who exactly do you plan on besieging?"

Lelouch shrugged. "I suppose there's no use in hiding it. I plan on invading the Barbary states soon, hopefully in late summer or early fall, depending on the speed of the shipwrights in Genoa."

"Do you plan on fighting the Ottomans themselves?"

"No. For now, I just plan to chastise the corsairs while the Sultan is distracted."

Cornelia gave him a concerned look. "How do you plan on defeating them at sea? A few bomb ships are no match for entire pirate fleets."

"Do you know Lloyd Asplund?"

"That eccentric? What sort of stories has he been feeding you?"

"I assure you, the horizontally firing exploding shell gun Lloyd designed for us is very real."

Cornelia's eyes widened. "A gun with exploding shells that can practically be used on board a ship…" Lelouch grinned as she realized the potential of what Lloyd had created. "Do you have any ships with those guns already installed?"

"Not yet. To save costs, we're trying to design a sort of turret apparatus that rotates on a spindle, so that we only need one cannon per ship."

Cornelia nodded. "I suppose that would make an invasion possible, although it certainly wouldn't be easy."

* * *

After docking on the mainland, they rode to the army's camp as the sun set. Lelouch decided against quartering his men in random Venetian houses, and the weather, while cold, wasn't bad enough to change Lelouch's mind so far.

The men seemed to be relaxing after a day of drilling in the cold, and as the camp got closer Lelouch could hear singing from the camp, from the Peat Gatherers in particular, and he recognized the tune almost immediately.

_I'm happy for to see you home,_

_All from the island of Sulloon,_

_So low in flesh, so high in bone_

_Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ya!_

Those were some of the final lines of a song known as "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", and the Peat Gatherers were rather fond of it. It was an anti-enlistment song, describing an Irishman who came back from fighting in India, Ceylon in particular, horrifically mauled. There was some hope to it- the song was from the perspective of the Irishman's lover, who decided to stay with him anyways, but it wasn't the sort of song Cornelia would have preferred.

"I didn't know your soldiers could speak English so well, could sing in it, even."

"Some volunteers from Britannia itself. Some Scottish, some Irish, some Welsh, and a few English as well."

Cornelia was silent, but Lelouch could tell she was thinking about the Peat Gatherers and analyzing their reasons for coming to Italy. She was probably going to realize (if she hadn't already) that their willingness to join the Italian campaign but their disdain for colonial warfare was a matter of liberal politics.

Upon entering the camp proper, the soldiers seemed almost transfixed- Lelouch doubted that they recognized Cornelia as a princess of the Empire, but just focused on the fact that she was an unusually beautiful woman accompanying their commander. If this was the sort of treatment Cornelia got from most soldiers, Lelouch could almost understand why she locked up Euphemia in a palace somewhere before marching off to battle- the leering of the soldiers made Lelouch uncomfortable and he wasn't even the person they were ogling.

Of course, Lelouch couldn't effectively address 10,000 people on short notice, so he gave orders to gather some of the higher officers from the ranks to have a discussion.

* * *

"Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce General Cornelia li Britannia, my beloved sister." Most of the men seemed to sit up a little straighter at that, although Collins was looking extremely uncomfortable.

"She has been assigned by Emperor himself to help organize the Italian army and make sure we're prepared to face any continental threats, or at least delay them."

Some of the men seemed to relax at that (what, did they think she was going to usurp his position as commander or Viceroy?) as Lelouch continued. "Treat her with the same respect you would give to me or Jeremiah. I would like to remind you all that she has more experience in battle than all of us."

Even if Cornelia's presence did mean oversight from the Britannian government, Lelouch couldn't delude himself into thinking that her experience in battle wouldn't be incredibly useful, and it would foolish not to use it, if she had to stay around.

* * *

Cornelia and Euphemia moved into the Doge's Palace with a contingent of their guards while the remaining portions of Cornelia's retinue set up camp with the majority of the Venetian garrison, although they were quickly moved to the other side of camp when fights started breaking out between them and the Peat Gatherers.

Lelouch and Cornelia visited Genoa to check on the progress of the exploding shell boats, which would be necessary for the north African campaign.

One of the ships was near completion, and it certainly didn't look as striking as a ship of the line might look. It was relatively low lying, although there was an obvious weakness on the sides in the form of the massive wheels. These ships certainly had some weaknesses- you couldn't get a traditional broadside out of them, and a lot of "cargo" space that could be filled with cannon was instead filled with machinery and coal.

However, the ships had the advantage of not being dependent on wind to move around (they weren't even hybrid steam and sail vessels) and sail against the wind, giving them an advantage in maneuvering. Logically, they exploited this advantage by giving the ships heavy guns which would usually be impractical at close range, like their exploding shell guns. Each ship had one gun on a rotating turret, which had to be manually jacked up and repositioned. It wasn't fast, but hopefully the paddlewheel could keep the ship out of range until the turret was properly aimed.

The armor was especially striking, a few inches of iron layered over the wood, which would hopefully prevent one of the greatest dangers of naval battle: splinters. Sending a cannonball through the side of a wooden ship would send a spray of dangerous splinters into the ship, killing or disabling sailors. Even if the cannonball or wooden fragments didn't hit you directly, there was still danger- Lelouch had heard of that famed phenomena, the wind of ball, where a passing cannonball could kill a man without touching him, as if the cannonball's passing simply blew out of the candle of their life.

Of course, exploding shells would be even more dangerous than plain shot, and Lelouch was interested to see the turret in action. Of course, he had heard reports of Lloyd's testing with the piece, but Lelouch needed to see the gun in action onboard one of the ships. The shells were complex things- even if they didn't have the conical shape of Minie balls or the shot used in their rifled cannons, the exploding shells had to be loaded with a sabot to keep the ball facing in the correct direction so the explosion of the powder could light the fuze.

The results were simply incredible though- the fuze meant that the shell could explode while inside the ship or while embedded in its hull, leading to more damage than mundane shot. Of course, that didn't mean that these ships were invincible, and the Barbary corsairs had long since given up galleys in favor of proper sailing ships complete with broadsides. Lelouch supposed it would be a good test- while the Corsairs certainly weren't on naval parity with a power like Britannia, seeing how their paddewheelers fared in battle against actual sailing ships would be critical.

Lelouch also had some other surprises in store for the corsairs, in the form of special ammunition for both their normal cannons and the mortars of their bomb ships: carcass shot. The shot wasn't actually composed of human bodies, of course, but was named after the circles on early carcass shot, which bore a passing similarity to the ribs of a corpse even if modern shot looked more like a normal cannonball with holes cut into it. Carcass shot was most notable for being hollow- and filled with flammable liquid which blazed out of holes in the shell, making it an incendiary weapon. It would be useful when they reached the Barbary states proper and could start attacking buildings and defenses.

The turret rotation worked properly, which was their main concern, so they continued work on the paddle steamers with hopes of finishing by late summer or early fall. Work was also being done on mostly unarmed steamers to serve as transport for the soldiers they planned on bringing. Of course, they weren't bringing the entire Italian army with them for obvious reasons, but a portion of the Venetian garrison would be joining them.

This certainly didn't mean Lelouch was anxious to pick a fight with any Barbary armies that showed up, as he knew full well that any battle would be on their home turf. He had studied previous attempts to bring the corsairs to heel, and there was one in living memory, if just barely: the failed invasion of 1775, where the Bey of Algeria crushed an invading force of Spaniards and Tuscans by feigning retreat and baiting them inland into a trap.

Lelouch's main advantage over the corsairs were his heavy guns: his rifled pieces on land and his exploding shell guns at sea, which limited his operations to the shore or very close by if he really wanted to stand a chance. He certainly wouldn't be marching to inland cities like Constantine or anything, so his main focus were the major Barbary ports: Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli, and possibly Sale or Rabat, if they decided to push to Morocco.

* * *

One of the paddle wheel steam ships was going to be devoted to a special purpose: it was to be a balloon tender, designed around keeping a balloon for observation purposes. There was no practical way to use balloons offensively (Lelouch supposed you could drop grenades or fletchettes from the air, but they took up weight and also meant flying over enemy positions, not the wisest of ideas), but being able to see enemy ships sooner had immense tactical value. Lloyd had developed a sort of line system to keep the balloon from drifting too far away, which would hopefully help with recovering the balloon. The aeronaut who rode the first Italian balloon, Russo, was being trained in a complex system of flag waving in order to properly communicate positions and the like to the men on the ground (or deck).

Another one of Lloyd's experiments started to bear fruit as well: the first cargoes were being moved by rail. Asplund had a remarkable ability to focus on a single subject with incredible intensity, but he frequently left a trail of half baked projects behind- fortunately his subordinates managed to decipher his notes and lay down the rails. Lelouch supposed that indulging Lloyd's escapades into hot air balloons did mean he wouldn't be able to focus on railroads, but the sheer military utility of balloons was worth too much to him. At the moment, the rails were used in a very limited capacity, mostly to move heavy loads to the shore: coal in Sardinia, iron in Elba, and marble in a town called Carrara. Of course, marble wasn't worth much on campaign, but it sold well so Lelouch certainly didn't mind.

The idea of rails weaving across all of the Italian countryside, from the Po valley and the snowy Alps in the north to the cliffs and mountains of Calabria was certainly romantic, but it was impractical in the short term. After the first cargo rail lines were set up, Lelouch hoped that rail lines would eventually be set in place between cities, but for now rail lines would mainly be used for freight.

* * *

By the time summer ended and autumn began, they were prepared for the invasion as well as they could be. Coaling stations were stocked in Sicily, ammunition and rations procured, and ships finished. The _Italia_ was to stay in port, as Lelouch saw no reason to risk a trade ship in a naval war, but the steam ships were prepared. Lelouch chose one of the armed paddlewheelers to be his his flagship at random- _The Ligurian_.

They set sail (if that was even the appropriate term for a fleet mostly propelled by steam) in late September, as the Italian peasants worked in their fields, harvesting sheaves of durum wheat and blue-black grapes from the rolling Italian fields. Lelouch had to admit that staying behind in Venice with Nunnally, drinking wine or watching the harvest festivals sounded better than a trip to Africa, but his sense of duty called him to Barbary.

Cornelia joined him on _The Ligurian_ as well, along with Guilford, Jeremiah, and some more guards; however, most of the men were on other ships devoted purely to transporting fighting men. The bomb ships trailed behind them, sailing against the dry sirocco wind that blew from the south, and Lelouch was very grateful that a majority of his ships were steamers- having to worry about sailing into the wind wouldn't be as much of a concern on this campaign.

As they departed from Sicily to the coasts of North Africa, Lelouch thought of the famed Roman who partook a similar expedition: Scipio Africanus. He fought against Carthage, whose capital stood where the city of Tunis stands today, and would in time defeat Hannibal himself in battle near Zama in inland Tunisia. It would not be the last war between Rome and Carthage, but it sounded the latter's death knell, crippling their capacity to wage war at land or sea. Scipio would earn the title Africanus- quite literally, the African- for his victory. Lelouch supposed that if he really wanted to play up his Roman connections he could start calling himself Italicus- the Italian- but that honestly seemed more pathetic than impressive.

Of course, centuries had passed since the Romans and Carthaginians did battle at sea, and marines on quinqueremes had long since been replaced with cannon and shell. High in the air above them, Vittorio Russo kept watch from the sky, overlooking the same frothy sea that countless thousands sailed for centuries- although certainly from a different point of view.

Their first destination was Tunisia, with hopes of following up with attacks on Tripolitania and Algieria, possibly even the independent Sultanate of Morocco; however, this all hinged on winning at sea first. Lelouch was admittedly risking a lot on being able to defeat the corsairs at sea- the potential loss in prestige (and wealth) if he or Cornelia were taken hostage was… worrying. At the same time, Lelouch knew that the corsairs weren't sailing anything approaching the greatest ships the European powers could bring to bear- ships of the line, their sides rife with cannon. The corsairs sailed smaller, more maneuverable ships, frigates and the like, which could prove themselves to be more of a menace to shipping then a sluggish, if powerful, warship.

Lelouch's train of thought was interrupted when one of the men on board, the one tasked with watching the observation balloon for any flag signals, spoke up. "Sir! Russo's spotted something! An enemy fleet in the distance, sailing from the south!"

Lelouch grinned. "Get out the signalling flags and tell our armed steamships to pick up speed!" At the very least, battle would mean a stop to all the worrying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Shores of Tripoli, which should hopefully be a little longer, although I'm not sure if it'll cover all of Lelouch's African adventures.
> 
> I'm not sure I got Cornelia right, like as a character. Please tell if you have any criticisms about her characterization. The bit about royal heirs using modified coats of arms is true, at least recently in our timeline's United Kingdom, but I decided against breaking out the heraldry terms, for obvious reasons.
> 
> Some of the Irish rebel songs haven't been written yet, which is kind of sad. The Wearing of the Green also existed at the time, but Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya feels like a slap in the face to Cornelia, at least in my opinion. I decided to include it in part to showcase a growing divide between Britannia/Cornelia and Italy/the people in Italy, because I just like the song, and I think that historical music like that is interesting. Same tune as When Johnny Comes Marching Home, very different message. Is including bits of culture like this a thing I should do more often, or is it a mistake? I love feedback, guys.
> 
> Please tell me if these historical discussion sections at the end get too long or anything. Also, I feel like I'm pushing technology ahead a little fast, but at the same time Code Geass had mechs, which is a huge leap even with sakuradite.


	12. Troubles in Tunisia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be the Shores of Tripoli, but then getting to Tunis and finishing business there took longer than I thought.
> 
> I know I've been a little iffy on the dates recently, but now that we're back to warfare, where that sort of thing is important, I'll strive to keep you guys up to date.

* * *

**September 30th, 1827 AD**

* * *

The enemy was upwind, which was typically an advantage when it came to battles at sea- sailing against the wind was difficult, and the admiral who was upwind was the only one who could force a confrontation- but in Lelouch's case, he had steamships, which let him attack immediately and aggressively.

As they sailed, they got more information by flag signal: the enemy fleet had two dozen ships, all of them speedy frigates which were definitely armed for a fight. They also outnumbered Lelouch's fighting ships about two to one, as he only managed to get a dozen steamships into a state he was confident about (there were actually a few more back in Italy, but the turrets and steam engines were finicky on those crafts). Of course, Lelouch had exploding shell guns and the corsairs almost certainly did not, and it was possible they weren't even ready for a fight- the observation balloon let Lelouch get the jump on them.

Eventually, the enemy ships came into view- and what ships they were. Of course, Lelouch had seen some of the finest ships in the world while in London, but there was something different about seeing ships at sea, smelling the salt air and knowing that you were about to engage in battle. They certainly weren't the largest ships in the world- frigates like these weren't armed as heavily as a first rate ship of the line like the HMS Victory- but they towered above the steamships, their great sails billowing in the wind, complex rigging holding up a mix of triangular and square sails.

It was clear now that the ships were Tunisian, and Lelouch was sure that sailors all across the Mediterranean would recognize that dreaded flag: five horizontal stripes, two blue stripes on the edges, two red, and one green in the center, on an unusually cut flag that ended with semicircles instead of a straight edge.

The pirates certainly lived up to their reputation, bursting into a flurry of action as soon as they saw Lelouch's fleet sailing towards them. Through his telescope, Lelouch could seem them loading their cannons in a frenzy, and even preparing boarding parties. Of course, that wasn't going to dissuade Lelouch, and his fleet plunged forward against the wind, their turrets moving into position ponderously.

The extra time for preparation also meant that Lelouch's fleet could fire first, before the frigates could ready their broadsides. With a series of roars, the twelve ships of the Italian fleet fired their rounds, sending explosive shells flying into the enemy ships, lodging themselves into the hulls. Two of the enemy ships got hit by a couple of rounds, but even just one was enough to cause panic on board when it exploded. In naval battle, at least before exploding shells, ships rarely sunk- the hull may be shattered, the crew crippled or killed by splinters, the structure devastated by fire or burned all the way to the waterline, but it was surprisingly hard to sink a ship in battle. Nature could do it, purposeful sabotage with intent to sink could, but normal cannons usually couldn't- not that a captain would want to.

In the past, it was better to capture a ship then to send all of its worth to the bottom of sea, but Lelouch certainly wasn't taking prize ships today- they were antiquated, the first victims of a new age of naval warfare. Lelouch certainly wasn't going to cry over a few ship-fulls of pirates being sent to the bottom of the sea.

Of course, the pirates were still a threat, if they managed to board or if they managed to use their cannon- damaging the paddlewheels would leave the ships dead in the water, and sending a shot straight down the length of the ship, from bow to stern, could be devastating as well. Looking at the nearest frigate to his own ship, _The Ligurian_ , he couldn't help but notice how high up the cannons seemed to be when compared to his position on the steamship. They were so high that if they got too closer, the cannons might not be able to go down far enough to hit…

Getting closer would mean running the risk of damage to his mast, which actually had some use on steam ships, mostly to rig a small sail for stabilization during rough weather. Lelouch knew that other nations including Britannia had steam ships to a limited extent, although they the engines weren't really fired up except during battle, and the ships depended on their sails a majority of the time. Of course, a part of this reason was less efficient engines- Lloyd helped with that, of course, so they were running almost entirely on steam.

However, the risk to his mast was negligible, and meant he could avoid a broadside and possibly even swing around and strike the enemy's stern. "Sail in close! Get so close their cannon fires over our heads!" Several of the men looked at him like he was crazy, but complied. They would run the risk of boarding parties if they got too close, so they would have to sail carefully to find the sweet spot where the enemy couldn't board but their cannon wouldn't be able to strike.

Looking out at the rest of the ships, Lelouch could see most of them were doing fairly well, skirting out of the way of enemy broadsides and landing shell after shell in the enemy's hulls. The corsairs were suffering from disorder and one particularly unfortunate ship had a hole blown open in both sides so he could see straight through. However, he could see two of his ships were suffering: one of them, _The Lombard,_ had its paddlewheel caught by some of the enemy's shot, and were dead in the water, even as they defended themselves valiantly from the enemy with shells. Some of the other ships had rallied to it, keeping the enemy at bay and preventing them from attacking the crippled craft.

Unfortunately, _The Neapolitan_ was not managing as well as _The Lombard,_ and Lelouch could the men clashing with Barbary boarding parties in a wild melee of musket, bayonet, and more traditional weapons like swords and axes. If the enemy succeeded in seizing the ship, Lelouch might have to sink it to keep them from exploiting the shell gun, so he hoped the Italians would remain firm. At the very least, _The Neapolitan_ had managed to extricate itself from the ship the boarding party came from.

 _The Ligurian_ managed to sail past the enemy frigate without issue other than an exchange of musket fire from the decks, and Lelouch more than paid back their casualties by sending a shell directly through the ship's exposed stern. As the gun crew reloaded, Lelouch directed them to sail and relieve _The Neapolitan_.

They sailed as close to the ship as they could manage before using hooks to keep the two ships together. Fortunately, the fact that the ships were made in the same shipyard, based on the same design, meant their deck were very close to level, and Lelouch's guards rushed to fight off the boarders, even as their cannon roared, firing shots at the other Barbary ships (they weren't foolish enough to fire exploding shells at boarders).

Lelouch pulled out a pistol to defend himself as Cornelia and Jeremiah both drew their swords- despite Jeremiah's insistence that he pick up fencing, Lelouch's constitution meant that he never managed to get very good at it, and Jeremiah begrudgingly dropped the subject as Lelouch's strategic talents were revealed (although he did force Lelouch to learn how to operate guns). Jeremiah and Cornelia leapt into the fight with surprising zeal- sabers flashing as the decks were splattered with blood.

Boarding actions were chaotic, a mess of screaming and the clashing of metal, all the mayhem of battle condensed onto the decks of a few ships. One of the enemy pirates rushed him, a vicious looking short cutlass in his hand, and Lelouch shot him dead with practiced motions- leaving him with an empty gun as another followed close behind, a short axe in his hands. Lelouch stepped back, and realized that both Jeremiah and Cornelia were too far away to relieve him, and he had no chance of reloading his pistol even as he gripped at his powder horn.

Lelouch had contemplated his own death before: he knew full well that if he failed in his campaign of unification death was on the line. He was confident then, confident that he wouldn't be leaving Nunnally alone. He supposed that if anyone was to succeed him as Viceroy of Italy, Nunnally would, just to keep the Italians pacified by an Italian vicereine. Before he could start contemplating what his death might imply for the Barbary campaign, his would be killer was blindsided by a vicious attack that fractured his skull, sending him to the deck like a bag of rocks.

Looking up, Lelouch met eyes with Collins. "Your highness." The Irishman did cut a rather striking figure, blood dripping down the carved blackthorn wood of- was that a shillelagh? They were a sort of club carried around by some of the Irishmen in his ranks, and judging by the bleeding wound left in the corsair's skull, it was effective.

"Thank you, Collins." While nearly getting killed wasn't something Lelouch planned for, there was no reason not to exploit it: a knighting, or at least an accolade of some kind, to encourage the common soldiers. He would probably have to find some Italian soldier who displayed valor during this campaign too, if he didn't want to appear biased towards men from the British isles.

After that incident, they repelled the boarding parties with no real issue, and the two ships returned to the fray, not that there was much fighting left to do. The steamships had handled themselves admirably, breaking down a fleet twice their size on their very first engagement, although _The Lombard_ had sustained severe damage to the paddlewheel. Not impossible to repair given enough time and lumber, but considering the fact they were in the middle of the Mediterranean they didn't have nearly enough of either.

They eventually decided to keep the craft- its gun and engine were too valuable to scuttle it- although it would be towed by one of the cargo ships, and would only fulfill the purpose of a floating battery. A portion of the crew was moved to _The Neapolitan_ , who found itself short on hands after fending off the pirates. The fleet didn't come out of the battle completely untouched, but it was a magnificent success, and they managed to catch every one of the enemy's ships, meaning that their exploding shell guns would stay secret for a little while longer.

However, the battle exposed the measure issue with their paddlewheel steamboats: the paddles themselves were obvious targets, and while the best way to keep them safe would be to put them under the waterline, that would make them incredibly inefficient, if not worthless. If there was another way to move water…

Of course! There was a very simple way to move water around, and even better it was propelled by the sort of rotational motion a steam engine could provide: the water screw, or the Archimedes screw. Lelouch had even visited the city of Syracuse, where Archimedes lived and died! Of course, a few modifications to the design would need to be made, but a sort of screw-propeller could drive a ship forward while pushing water back. He should probably talk to Lloyd about this, once he got back home.

Afterwards, they met up with the remainder of their fleet, their transport and cargo ships churning the water with their paddles as the bomb ships valiantly struggled against the wind. They sailed on, and could probably reach Tunis within a day.

* * *

The lords (or more properly, Beys) of the Barbary Coast were nominally dependencies of the Ottoman Sultan, but already had considerable autonomy before the Sultanate collapsed into civil war.

The Pasha had already taken Acre and marched into Anatolia, and a decisive victory there could allow him to march all the way to Constantinople, if the European powers allowed it. Lelouch couldn't say with certainty what the Pasha aimed for: if the Pasha just settled for the Levant and didn't demand independence, then he might be able to get away with it. However, if he started to fancy himself a kingmaker or desired independence, the European powers might be provoked to intervene.

The kingmaker (sultanmaker?) theory was the most interesting to Lelouch- Sultan Mahmud had an infant son, who could serve as a puppet for the Pasha if he could manage to depose the Sultan. If not him, there was always the Kafes, where the Ottoman Sultans put possible successors to the throne like their younger brothers, cousins, and nephews. However maddening being trapped in one portion of the palace for the majority of your life had to be, it did sound better than getting strangled with a bowstring for the crime of being born male with royal blood.

Succession in Britannia often proved itself as messy as succession used to be in the house of Osman, and Lelouch knew full well all the blood that was spilled to secure his father's place on the throne. Lelouch knew his chances of becoming Emperor were low, as he had practically given his claim away by converting, and he was fairly confident that he was, to some extent, irreplaceable as Viceroy of Italy- he couldn't be replaced by any of his siblings without causing unrest, except possibly Nunnally, due to them being Britannian. He wasn't a priority target for any of his more ambitious siblings, who composed the vast majority of his family; however, Lelouch knew that Charles killed practically every sibling he had to press his claim with one exception: V.V., Charles' twin.

Lelouch believed his nickname was short for Venceslav or something to that effect, but he wasn't familiar enough with his enigmatic uncle to be certain. He only remembered meeting the man once: he was exploring the royal library in London along with Schneizel, and his older brother was searching for a book: an original print of _Leviathan_ by Hobbes, but when the two finally tracked it down, they found V.V. reading it. He gave the book to them without complaint, but there was something terribly cold about his countenance, which sent shivers down Lelouch's spine.

He was Charles' twin, but as Charles towered over the Imperial Court, the political and physical focus of any room, V.V. was short and unassuming, like a boy hiding in his brother's shadow, and he reminded Lelouch of Schneizel in his capacity to plot and scheme, although he lacked the charisma and charm that let Schneizel operate in the court without unnerving people. When V.V. looked Lelouch in the eyes in that library, Lelouch had the distinct impression that his uncle didn't care at all for his well being- he might have given the same look to a corpse.

Whatever function he fulfilled in his father's court, V.V. was clearly a close confidant of the Emperor, but any attempts to sway Charles through him failed disastrously.

* * *

"I've never had food quite like this, Nunnally. Do you Italians eat like this every day?" Euphemia smiled at Nunnally as they ate lunch in the Doge's Palace.

"I suppose there would be a little less meat and fish, but I believe so, Euphemia." She smiled at her sister as Sayoko waited on them both. Nunnally was remarkably adept at eating, as long as Sayoko set up the table for her- if all the utensils were exactly where Nunnally expected them to be, she really didn't need to see them.

Euphemia turned from her sister to talk to Sayoko. "If it isn't rude, may I ask where you came from, Miss Sayoko? Nunnally mentioned you were foreign, but what country?"

"I come from an island nation to the east of China- Nihon, the land of the rising sun. You may know it as Japan, your highness?"

"I've seen it on maps, but I don't think I've met a Japanese person. Of course, I haven't met many people outside of the staffs of various palaces, but still. And please, call me Euphemia."

"That's not surprising, Miss Euphemia. The Shogunate closed the country off more than a hundred years ago, and it limited Japanese trade greatly. There was only one port for European traders, in Nagasaki, and that was where I was hired by the Ashfords."

"The… shogun?"

"It's a Japanese title, something to the effect of a… military regent? Nominally, the country is ruled by the Emperor, but the Shogun is really in charge."

"And the Shogun really just closed off the entire country?"

"Yes. Very few people get in or get out. My family was of the opinion that Japan was getting left behind in a changing world. They were fascinated with Dutch learning- books brought by the Dutch traders in Dejima. When a chance came for one of us to see the world outside of Japan, we couldn't pass up."

Euphemia was silent for a few moments before responding. "Well, did the rest of the world live up to your expectations?"

Sayoko smiled. "In serving the Ashfords and eventually Lelouch and Nunnally, I've seen places I could have never dreamt of at home. I miss my family, of course, but I do not regret leaving Japan."

"You've adapted well, Miss Sayoko. You speak English like a native."

Sayoko gave Euphemia a small smile. "Picking up languages is one of my talents, it seems. I learned Dutch first, picked up English while serving with the Ashfords, and learned Italian soon after moving to Sicily. It's difficult to fulfill the duties of a maid without being able to speak to a majority of the people around you, after all."

* * *

Early in the morning of October 1st, they spotted Cape Bon using their hot air balloon, and they sailed north of the peninsula into the Gulf of Tunis proper. It was a sheltered body of water, a little less than 40 miles across, and the southern portion held the city of Tunis.

A more conservative strategy might have been to blockade the city, stopping ships coming in or out of Tunis to make their point to the Bey, and it would be fairly easy to maintain: resupply in Marsala, one of the westernmost cities on the island, would be a short trip away, and Palermo was still very close. However, Lelouch didn't want to maintain a blockade, knowing full well that he had limited time on campaign if he wanted to stay on budget. Every trip back to Sicily to grab more coal was money wasted, so he decided for a more… direct approach.

The city started as a smear on the horizon, but eventually grew bigger and bigger, until they could see the outskirts of the city, where Carthage once stood. From what Lelouch had read, the majority of the city, including the Bey's palace, was on the other side of the lake of Tunis- a shallow lagoon which connected the city proper with the sea. In fact, the lagoon was so shallow Lelouch probably couldn't sail in without running his ships aground.

If the lake was deep enough to sail into, Lelouch might have gone for something as bombastic as just parking his entire fleet in the lake and seizing the small fortress in the middle, called Chikly; however, he had an option that was nearly as good: seizing La Goulette, the port of Tunis, which would conveniently giving him access to Chikly if he wanted to start rattling his saber from the fort. The Spanish used to control La Goulette until the Turks took it over, and if the Spanish could hold it for a few decades he could certainly take it over to negotiate with the Bey.

Sadly, there wasn't a fort to capture in what once was Carthage, thanks to the Eighth Crusade. Due to the crusaders using the fort as a base of operations to pester the Tunisian sultans. The Crusade petered out after the death of Louis IX, but Lelouch certainly didn't plan on dying of sickness before accomplishing anything of note. At least the French king had paved the way for Lelouch to practically walk straight into Carthage before menacing Tunis proper, if things broke out into violence.

The true defenses of the city were inland, in the hinterlands past the lake, and as such Lelouch could observe the situation from the mouth of La Goulette, where the ocean met the lake of Tunis.

* * *

"The Spanish took this port, once. Before falling to the Turks, the sultans of Tunis knelt to the Habsburgs." Lelouch had done quite a lot of research about previous attempts to subdue Tunis, and knew full well that he wasn't the first to try, and if he succeeded he wouldn't even be the first.

"Speaking of, what exactly do you plan on demanding from the Bey your highness?" Lelouch could sense the unrest in Collin's voice, which was understandable considering how opposed to colonial conquest he and his fellows seemed to be.

"No annexation, of course. I don't want to risk aggravating the Ottoman Sultan. Instead, I plan on demanding free trade rights and an end to piracy against all Britannian ships."

Cornelia gave an approving smile, apparently satisfied with her brother's love of country, although Lelouch's reasons were entirely selfish, or at least focused on Italy over Britannia. If he could have managed to stop the corsairs from attacking only Italian ships, he would have been happy, but asking for something as specific as a halt on piracy against Italian ships would raise uncomfortable questions. Looking like a patriot was just a happy side benefit.

Collins sighed. "And if they don't agree?"

"We shell them until they do."

* * *

Eventually, the menacing collection of ships at the city's port eventually caught the attention of the Bey and his guards, who rode out to near the Goulette, but were obviously hesitant to sail out and parley with Lelouch on his ship, not that Lelouch blamed them. He certainly didn't want to walk straight into Tunis. After some time spent exchanging messages by rowboat, they decided to meet on Chikly, in the middle of the Lake of Tunis. The island was inaccessible by large boats, so they had to take smaller dinghies to get to the island, a fair number of guards in tow.

There was a certain romance to the island- or perhaps it was uppercase Romance, considering how the only structure on the island was an ex-Roman fortress that was restored by the Spanish. It was very beautiful- the lake gleamed brilliantly as the men rowed across its surface, and Lelouch could see hints of the city's sprawling Medina quarter, and Lelouch could practically imagine the narrow streets, incredibly thin and maze-like.

The Bey, Al-Husayn, was a fairly normal looking man, dressed in fine robes covered in embroidery, although his guard's clothes were much plainer. Despite the supposedly peaceful nature of their negotiations, both parties were armed to the teeth- just about the only person without a weapon was Lelouch, who had been reminded just a day ago about his inadequacies in combat.

The fortress was unmanned, but there was some old furniture they managed to drag together for their discussion. It was certainly a far cry from the splendid hall of mirrors at Versailles, but the Bey was willing to talk, which was a good sign. Fortunately, one of Cornelia's officers had picked up enough Arabic to manage translation- without him, they wouldn't have been capable of deciding on a place to meet, not to mention actually talking.

"You are Lelouch… vi Britannia, correct? Your naming system is peculiar."

"Yes, I am Lelouch vi Britannia, and my sister is Cornelia li Britannia." The bey and his retinue seemed to recognize both of them, given their hushed whispers, and Lelouch was impressed by how his sister's reputation spread. Of course, that could turn out to be a bad thing, but it still proved just how famous her campaigns were.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, vi Britannia. However, I must assume, given your fleet, that you have come to my country with the expectation of a fight. I hope that, God willing, we do not come to blows in the future."

"I beg your pardon, Al-Husayn. I sailed here with the intent of stopping piracy against my beloved country. I hope that we can come to a peaceful resolution, of course, but I cannot tolerate to see Italy's coasts ravaged and her sailors taken captive."

The bey's coterie began to mutter among themselves with that, and Lelouch knew full well that they had a good reason to refuse- a fair amount of their state's revenue came from ransoms. "And if we refuse?"

"I think you know what will happen then." Al-Husayn's expression turned stormy, and he turned to talk with his men for a few moments. "Is that a threat, vi Britannia?"

Lelouch smiled, and decided to push his luck. "Not a threat. A promise."

The bey stared at him for a few moments… before bursting into laughter. "You're a bold one, aren't you, vi Britannia! You're awfully confident that your little fleet can defeat us. A few steamships and a balloon won't win you a city."

"By any chance, did a fleet of pirates depart from Tunis recently? Some two dozen, perhaps?"

His eyes widened. "Did you…"

Lelouch grinned. "Sunk to the last."

After a few moments of silence, the bey began a rapid discussion with his retinue that got very heated, their voices rising as they gesticulated wildly. Lelouch began to push his chair back, and he could see Cornelia reaching for the handle of her saber as she sent a glare his way…

Before the Arabic conversation came to a halt and the bey turned back around to look at Lelouch. "An agreement to end piracy against Britannian ships… would be possible. Several of my advisors have argued that it was only a matter of time until our piracy finally provoked a European power to war, and I suppose you are the first." The bey sighed. "I do not wish to be consigned to the dustbin of history, vi Britannia, one of the last rulers of a failing state. The times are changing. The Pasha of Egypt knows this, as does the Sultan."

Lelouch's face was calm and relaxed, but he was struggling not to grin. If the Bey was going where he seemed to be going, then he wouldn't have to fight- in Tunis, at least. The bey continued. "The world is modernizing, and Italy is working to keep up. If you can help us industrialize, shore up our economy so we no longer depend on piracy- we will bring them to heel."

Of course, it would take money and resources to support the Bey's industrialization, possibly more than what he might spend on ransoms. However, with free trade between Italy and Tunis… "That sounds agreeable, Al-Husayn. Of course, to help with this, we would need free trade between our states, or at least limited tarriffs…"

If the Bey was going to disagree, it was going to be here. Tarriffs would probably make up a fair portion of the Sultan's income, and his domestic production would get hit hard by Italian exports. In all honesty, in the short term it would probably be a disaster for Tunis- economic dominance by another state. However, if they managed to industrialize Tunis, even if to a much lesser extent than Italy… having a solid, non-Britannian ally in the world who held more land than Corsica was incredible.

"You know how that will damage our economy, vi Britannia."

"In the short term, yes, but you said yourself the times are changing. How long before some other European country decides the Tunisian people would serve them better as citizens, captive markets for all the goods of their factories?"

The bey was silent, contemplating his country's future, before nodding. "We will accept, vi Britannia. God willing, this agreement will make both our countries greater."

Now Lelouch smiled broadly. "If I may ask… what do you know of the other Beys? The Pashas of Tripoli and Algiers?"

"Algiers is ruled by a Hussein Dey, who I know little of, but he seems unhappy with Europe… unhappy with France. I doubt he will be willing to negotiate, and the Bey of Tripoli, Yusuf Karamanli, is a choleric man, quick to find a violent answer. He ordered the massacre of an entire tribe, some 10,000, after inviting them to his castle. I do not think you will get him to agree to a similar deal, although you might be able to depose him? He is not popular, and I have heard rumors of the Sultan stepping in to bring the region under the direct rule of the Sublime Porte."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going from covering months in a chapter… to two entire days. Nice.
> 
> I was researching ships of the Mediterranean for this chapter, and I swear the names of polaccas/polacres are going to drive me insane. Why did they name a mainly Mediterranean ship… after Poland?
> 
> Speaking of names, V.V. I decided to go with Venceslav (aka Wenceslaus) to give a logical reason behind the two Vs. There's an interesting parallel between V.V. and good king Wenceslaus- both had some issues with their siblings, to put it mildly.
> 
> I wish it could make up as something as cool as literally driving up to a ship to avoid its broadsides. Sadly, that honor goes to Thomas Cochrane of the British navy, who sailed his much smaller ship up to a larger one so the Spanish couldn't hit him with their cannon. The confrontation between the Speedy and the El Gamo, if you're curious. It's positively insane. The battle is also an inspiration for Master and Commander, if you've ever heard of that.
> 
> I was thinking of maybe having a Euphemia centric interlude soon? It would explore her time in Venice, obviously, and would also look back at her memories of the Britannian colonies and stuff. I was thinking maybe posting that at the same time as the next chapter, but tell me what you think about it, or if you guys want me to post it alone sooner. It will probably be shorter than usual.
> 
> I love fanfiction writing and weird research. If anyone can give me hard numbers on the depth of the Lake of Tunis during the 1820s, I would appreciate it. I feel sorry for the poor Bey of Tunis. His Wikipedia article is two sentences long and the only image is the flag of all the Beys of Tunis. RIP. This does mean that I can adjust his character as I please though, which is neat. It's strange to think that my fictional version is one of the only ways he'll impact any one of us sitting here now. The version I've created is more real to me than a two sentence Wikipedia article will be.


	13. Interlude: Euphemia & Nunnally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never written like, an depth look at a character like this, so tell me what you think.
> 
> This chapter is divided into three parts- Euphemia, Nunnally, and a Dialogue between them. I didn't want to basically type down the conversation twice and only explain half of each character's train of thought each time.

Euphemia was unusually well traveled- she had seen London, of course, but she had seen parts of the world the average Britannian had barely heard of. She had dined with her brother Clovis on the Cape of Good Hope, she had seen the flowing Ganges from a palace in Delhi, she had even stayed in Batavia Castle, a fort in previously Dutch Jakarta.

Of course, she had seen very little of the world outside of palaces, other than the occasional royal forest or other area that was carefully cordoned- Cornelia couldn't have her running into the common folk, after all. Euphemia could understand why Cornelia was so focused on keeping her locked away from the outside world, not that it made Euphemia feel any better.

Cornelia was understandably protective of her, especially in areas where Britannian rule was recently established. Resentment against Britannia was not uncommon, and the royal family was as close to a personification of Britannian rule as was possible. The Cape was a little better, given the sheer size of the Pendragon palatial complex, but gilding her cage didn't make it any less restrictive.

Euphemia's opinion on Britannian's rampant colonialism was negative. In theory, there was something noble about a true civilizing mission, genuinely trying to raise another nation up, improve their people's lot in life and constructing good institutions. She believed that nobility obliged, and that those with the power and wealth to change the world should use it to help others, but that wasn't what Britannia was doing.

It was exploitation covered by a facade of generosity, and she disagreed with the violent conquests that led up to that exploitation as well. She abhored violence, but she could see that there were times when it was necessary- when a despot was too powerful and too cruel, when the application of force would save lives, when war was just- but Britannia didn't fall into that category.

Cornelia didn't have the same qualms, but Euphemia thought that the patriotism and love of country that drove Cornelia to battle was for an idealized version of Britannia as opposed to the nobility that filled the court. Her disdain for the politicking of the court was well known, and the further away she and Euphemia were from London, the better.

Italy was definitely a change of pace from her previous destinations, and seeing Lelouch and Nunnally was wonderful after six years. Nunnally was just as sweet as she remembered, and handled her disability with grace, but Lelouch was the real shock. For Euphemia, Cornelia had always been Cornelia, she had always played a role in the military and on the battlefield, and even if traveling with her sister to the far corners of the world was a change in pace, Cornelia going into the military wasn't surprising.

Lelouch had a brilliant strategic mind, but until Euphemia stepped foot on Venice, land won by Lelouch's soldiers and his strategies, did she start realizing that her brother's strategic mind could reshape the world and win battles instead of games of chess. Cornelia had always been Cornelia, but Lelouch went from her childhood playmate to a conqueror, with nothing in between. She still loved her brother, but Lelouch the strategist and statesman was a different person than he was six years ago.

Euphemia had seen (or at least caught a glimpse of) many cities, but Venice was still a novel experience, a city on a lagoon, divided into portions by a series of canals. The smaller canals were bridged, but the wider canal that snaked through a majority of the city was instead tended by a number of gondolas which cut through the water of the lagoon.

After some needling, she managed to get the guards Cornelia left behind, along with Sayoko, to escort her around the city, and while she was sure she looked a little silly gawking at each and everything thing she came across, the whole thing was so novel. The people seemed nice enough, or at least that was the impression she gathered, even if it was filtered through Sayoko's translation and impacted by the presence of armed guards. The city was dotted with beautiful cathedrals, charming squares, and wonderful architecture, but she found herself attracted to the houses and the people.

After an interesting day out on the town, she came back home to eat dinner with Nunnally in the Doge's Palace, and they talked as the sun began to set.

* * *

Nunnally vi Britannia was used to being left out of things, unfortunately. Her disabilities meant that she was limited, that there were certain things she literally couldn't do, or could only do with external help. Lelouch and Sayoko took great pains to adjust their lives around her, and she was grateful to both of them for all that they did. Whether in Palermo, Rome, or Venice, steps had to be taken- palaces were so rarely built with wheelchairs in mind after all, and even if Lloyd's wheelchair design meant she could move around by herself, she was dependent on others to interact with the world.

She felt so powerless sometimes, when Lelouch left her behind with Sayoko to go out fight. He told her it was for her sake, to make sure that she was safe, to make sure that the royal court could never interfere with their lives again- and she was sure Lelouch genuinely believed it. She missed him greatly and wished they could simply be a family without the rest of the world caring, but she wasn't so lucky. The world seemed determined to make life difficult for the both of them, and Lelouch seemed to determined to change it.

Before Lelouch sailed to Genoa to start his conquest of Italy, she realized something was going on. Lelouch was very open about Sicily's administration with Nunnally, and would often sit down with her to discuss the country, its rolling hills and splendid orchards. Perhaps he was trying to make up for her isolation in the palace, to give her some idea of what Sicily was like, but she got very good at discerning details from those records. It wasn't like there was much else to think about, other than Sayoko's origami, and she started to realize that Lelouch was plotting something, pouring money into the military and going out for drills. Of course, he could have just been preparing for the unrest that would follow Emperor Napoleon's death, but she had a feeling her brother was aiming for something bigger.

When Lelouch sailed off, she couldn't help but worry about his health, and only keeping up with him through newspapers she couldn't even read by herself was frustrating. She was hoping for his success, of course, but mainly to see Lelouch again. Through Sayoko's voice she heard of the speeches Lelouch gave, the eager volunteers and eventually the battle he fought against Beauharnais in Tuscany.

His invasion of Italy made his interest in Italian politics and continental newspapers make a lot more sense, and Nunnally cottoned onto what he was planning days after he left, considering that the cause behind his departure was Napoleon's death.

Nunnally did fulfill Lelouch's role as Viceroy while he was gone, and Nunnally was sure he imagined that she would just sit down and let the parliament run the country until he could come back home and check on her. Admittedly, she was blind, which definitely hampered her ability to do paperwork, but if anyone noticed that all the signatures and edicts were written in Sayoko's handwriting, no one mentioned it. It was certainly satisfying to be doing something, even if the island basically managed itself.

She had issues with making public appearances like Lelouch did, but with a little help from Sayoko she could take limited trips- she visited the parliament occasionally, which had been moved from the Norman palace quite a long time ago for rather obvious reasons- even if she would occasionally need a ramp to go up stairwells. The men of the parliament were kind enough, although Nunnally wasn't sure how much of that was due to their loyalty to Lelouch or her own charms and how much was due to the bribes Lelouch gave them.

She was under the distinct impression that they were indulging the sister of the man who paid them whenever she spoke with them, but interacting with anyone outside of the Palace was enjoyable. Talking to the parliament gave her a better idea of what life in Sicily was like, and she was determined to do her best for the Sicilian people while her brother was gone.

The most obvious step, at least for her, was charity. She was fortunate enough that she had people around her who could help her manage her disabilities, but there were so many people who didn't have her luck and fortune. Putting money into things like soup kitchens was one fairly simple way to help alleviate suffering as best she could in the cities.

Lelouch's return to Sicily was a relief, and news of his dominion over Italy was… interesting. It seemed to make Lelouch happy, which was good enough for Nunnally, although their move to Rome was a surprise. Of course, it was worth it to stay close to Lelouch, even if she had to relearn her surroundings twice, for their first move into Rome and then into the Quirinal Palace.

Rome was fine enough, she supposed, although the cholera scare that followed shortly after their arrival wasn't. Her father did visit between their move to Rome and the news of cholera, but he didn't visit Nunnally and was only in Italy for business and a visit to mother's grave (or so Lelouch told her), so it was barely a footnote in her mind, especially considering the news of cholera.

She was in one of the best positions in the world to avoid the disease, and while she wanted to help, like so many other things it evolved into Lelouch's own battle, not something that his beloved little sister should be worrying about.

The move to Venice to negotiate with the Danubians was yet another move, which Nunnally did her best to work around. Her brother's duties brought him all across Italy, and she could tolerate bumping into furniture and walls for a few days if it meant she was still close to Lelouch.

While Italy was more Lelouch's passion than hers, she still wanted to help, and even if she was limited, not being able to do anything to help her brother while he was away felt more limiting than her disabilities.

Euphemia and Cornelia were wonderful, and their company made the winter much better, even if the looming promise of another campaign was disquieting. Of course, stopping piracy was a noble thing that Nunnally did think should be done- but some small part of her complained that Lelouch was the one who had to do it. When Cornelia and Lelouch left for North Africa, at least she had Euphemia for company, although her presence didn't help patch her feeling of powerlessness.

Eventually, Euphemia managed to convince Sayoko and her guards to let her explore the city, and afterwards Euphemia and Nunnally sat down to talk over supper.

* * *

"How was Venice?" Nunnally sent a smile Euphemia's way, and while it would make good small talk she was also interested in what the city was like, considering how little she knew about it and Italy as a whole.

"Oh, it was wonderful. There was something so interesting about walking the streets, seeing the people- Cornelia was so protective, and that meant I was stuck in palaces, maybe with a courtyard if I was lucky."

"So what did you do while you waited? I'd like some inspiration." Folding paper cranes was a stopgap, something that she could throw herself into and loose herself in- the folding of the paper, the patterns- there was an art to it, but an art she mastered quickly, and months alone was more than enough time to bring the count up to a thousand.

"I'd read sometimes, or walk around the courtyards when the chance presented itself. Sometimes I would talk to the staff, but Cornelia's reputation usually scared most of them off. There was also a lot of sitting around." That was always fun- some maid would work up the courage to talk with her, only to be spooked when Cornelia came thundering in (not that the friendship would last much longer, considering that Cornelia was going to drag her off to somewhere else).

"Have you ever wanted to do more?" Because there was nothing Nunnally wanted more.

"More? Like, seeing more of the world?"

"Like… helping manage things while Cornelia was gone. Lelouch left me to hold down the fort in Sicily while he was in Italy, and it was better than just sitting around like we are now. It felt like I was doing something, anything, to help."

"I suppose, but Cornelia keeps me cooped up in palaces…" She hadn't worked up the courage to break out or anything crazy like that, considering how risky wandering around would be if it wasn't in a Britannian district, but she was tired of being locked up to wile away the hours.

"It may sound a little straightforward, but have you tried talking to her about it?" Of course, Nunnally hadn't talked to Lelouch about her opinions, but…

"Well, I suppose I haven't." Euphemia was staring at Nunnally, not that her sister could tell. Her sister (well, this sister) had already taken up so much responsibility, and while Euphemia knew her numbers, she couldn't imagine running an entire state. "How did you do it? Ruling Sicily, I mean."

"Well a lot of the finer details were handled by the Parliament, but I was already familiar. Lelouch had been talking records with me for months by that point. After that, it was just getting Sayoko to do the reading and writing for me."

And Cornelia… didn't trust Euphemia with anything. Sure, Euphemia could admit that she wouldn't take well to a military education of the sort that Cornelia could provide, and her sister didn't have the same skills in statecraft and stewardship that Lelouch managed to share with Nunnally. However, there had to have been something, right? Logistics, maybe? Would Cornelia have arranged for education if she asked? "I'd like to help, but I'm not sure if I know how…"

"Then maybe I can explain it to you? Cornelia might be uncomfortable with giving you authority if she wasn't sure you could handle it. Maybe you just need to prove yourself."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original title for this was going to be Euphemia & The City of Canals or something similar, but then I decided to expand the scope of the chapter a little bit to include Nunnally. For any fans of Schneizel there's a bit of his perspective in the next chapter.
> 
> Euphemia and Nunnally are such interesting characters. I know I say that about a lot of characters, but maybe it's because I can see potential in them now that I've started writing. Of course, they play a large part in driving their respective siblings, but they've both got drive which is something I hope to look at here. I may not have an exact equivalent to the Black Knights, but Euphemia and Nunnally can be more than just ingenues- integral parts of Team Lelouch. Of course, I say they're gaining agency and then slot them into a role assisting Lelouch, but it's more than just being an emotional driver, the fuel in their sibling's engines, so to speak.


	14. The Shores of Tripoli

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually, this time!

The Bey was kind enough to let the Italian fleet stay near Tunis, and let Lelouch set up camp on the outskirts of the city, near Carthage. The Bey was understandably uncomfortable about the Italian soldiers staying in Tunis proper, and Lelouch had to agree- not to mention the heart attack Jeremiah would have trying to escort Lelouch through the city's cramped Medina quarter.

They ironed out the specifics of their agreement and discussed North African politics in general. Tunisia was struggling economically, to put it quite simply, and just abandoning piracy would only make it worse. Trans-Saharan trade had been suffering for a long time already, which was another stream of revenue that couldn't be properly exploited. Rather obviously, they were mostly agricultural- wheat, barley, olives, dates, cattle, and sheep. The country was also dotted with lead and lime mines, which showed potential. Textiles, canning, bullets, concrete… There was a lot of potential in the Tunisian economy, especially if (who was he kidding, when) war broke out again.

Politics was another finicky subject. Preferably, now that he knew it was an option, Lelouch wanted similar agreements with the other Barbary powers. Building them up into more modern states would be good for trade, in addition to giving him allies that felt indebted to him. Unfortunately, it seemed that neither of the other Beys would be as willing to agree- meaning if he wanted to draw up a similar treaty, he would need to install someone who was more open to his interests. Unifying the Barbary coast under the Bey of Tunis would be horribly impractical- controlling all that extra would be a massive drain on the Bey's already stretched resources, not to mention issues of legitimacy or revolt.

He didn't have any real insight when it came to Algiers and Tripoli- he didn't understand the politics of either country well enough to find someone he could install who was both open to treating with him and was supported by the people. He might be able to draw up a treaty that would get him what he set out to accomplish- an end to piracy and free trade- but a deal like he managed in Tunis was unlikely. Hopefully, the other Beys would realize how a treaty with Lelouch could benefit them when Tunisia began to industrialize.

From Tunis, Lelouch could either sail east, towards Tripoli, or west, towards Algiers and Morocco. Lelouch's plans were to sail east first- it would be a slightly shorter trip and he wanted to get his business done in Tripoli while the Pasha of Egypt was still busy in Anatolia. Lelouch may have been curious about the Pasha, but he certainly didn't want to meet the man while menacing Tripolitan ports.

* * *

The men were clearly relieved to spend the night on solid ground, and news of successful negotiations with Tunisia lifted their spirits. A few of the more enthusiastic or ambitious did hope for battle, but in general, news of a peaceful conclusion and potential friendship was cause for celebration, at least among Lelouch's contingents. The same could not be said for Cornelia or her guards.

"What were you thinking, just giving away Britannian secrets?" Britannia had tried to keep industrialization as close to its chest as it possibly could, but in Lelouch's opinion, trying to monopolize it was going to be impossible.

"Industry won't stay a secret forever, Cornelia. Factories are springing up in other countries, and Tunis would either industrialize or become a part of a country that did. I'd argue it's better for them to get the technology on our terms, under our oversight, then if they became an enemy."

"You'd just give technology away to a native power? All you've done is promised weapons to a perfidious savage."

Lelouch was expecting arguments like this, knowing that Cornelia's military career was built on colonialism, and her opinions on natives were shaped by people she was either in the process of subjugating or who were already brought under Britannian rule. "It's just that sort of viewpoint that causes issues, Cornelia! Treating the Bey with respect and dignity, coming to a agreement that benefits us both, is certainly going to create a relationship that is more amicable than simply conquering the place."

"And if Tunis becomes our enemy in the future?"

"If we treat them well, they shouldn't. In all honesty, there's not much of a reason to take over Tunis other than stopping pirates. What will they provide Britannia as an expensive, resentful colony that they wouldn't as an ally?"

After a few moments of silence, Cornelia continued. "And what are your plans for Tripoli and Algiers?"

"I enforce a treaty to get what I want, then I leave. You know as well as I do that not every war ends with total annexation or taking territory. If Tunisia succeeds and the Beys are smart, they'll try to make the same deal, but if things work out for Tunis and they still stick to the old ways… then they're probably just as foolish and primitive as you think, Cornelia."

* * *

The Italian Senate was a very recent phenomena, despite the ancient institution they styled themselves after. It had only been organized after Prince Lelouch's conquests and the Peace at Versailles, making it a couple of years old, and it had been composed of an actual, elected body of representatives for an even shorter period of time.

Rather obviously, few of them had experience running a state of several million people, but they were all very aware of what was a stake here. There was a certain symbolic importance to the Italian republic, even if it was under Britannian suzerainty, and there was a certain pressure to succeed: a failure of the Italian state would be seen as more proof of the failures of republicanism. Despite this, there was a certain optimism in the senate, born from a new beginning, a resurgence or "Risorgimento" of Italian identity. Exciting stuff like that was what got them running for the position of senator, so sitting down to discuss something like currency reform tended to be a little bit of a disappointment, even if it was extremely important.

As it turned out, Italian currency was in a bit of a confusing state: while the French did mint coins when they established their own Kingdom of Italy, discomfort with French rule in general meant that didn't pan out too well, and the general economic disarray was bad for business- and taxes. Sicily had adopted the pound sterling after enough time under Britannian rule, but the Italian government couldn't just start minting their own pound sterling coins, considering how jealously the Crown defended its minting rights after restoring absolutism.

They eventually decided on calling their currency the lira, after the currency used in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, and even decided to start printing bills as legal tender and not as emergency measure. Paper currency, or banknotes, weren't an alien concept to Italy- the great merchant princes of Italy used promissory notes to avoid the obvious dangers of moving large amounts of gold around- but a central bank was not. The majority of parliament came from the upper crust of Italian society, merchants and other figures who wanted to stay modern when it came to currency, although the money would still be tacked to gold and silver- none of them were ambitious enough to let the lira float. Before the French conquest, Italy was a great medley of currencies: Papal scudo and Parmese lira, Neapolitan piastra and Tuscan pound, and creating a unified currency was another step in creating a unified Italy.

Lelouch played a tremendous part in unifying Italy, but being ruled by a single person didn't mean that the disparate Italian states were all brought together into a federation with no problems. Lelouch's common code of law helped, but his focus on military matters meant that things like currency and the specifics of tax law were under his notice. There was definitely a bit of grumbling in the Senate about that, and discussions about their Viceroy got rather heated while he was out on campaign in Barbary.

Some argued that it was a gross violation of the Republican process, that Lelouch could just go off and attack other states as he pleased, without regard to the Senate- and it was true, considering how Lelouch started planning his expedition months in advance without asking for permission from the Senate- while others argued he was in some ways necessary. In times of great urgency, the Roman Republic assigned a dictator, when the state could not afford to be bogged down by Senate politics. The opposition argued that it wasn't urgent, and he was just attacking preemptively, in fear of a threat that may never come.

Lelouch was a popular figurehead, sure, but the more die hard republicans felt he was still abusing his position as Viceroy- but that was the rub, wasn't it? Viceroy, not King. Compared to the rest of Britannia, they were a liberal utopia, and the immigrants that came from other portions of the Empire seemed to agree. Checking Lelouch's power too severely might evoke the wrath of the Emperor, and while portions of the Senate disliked the war with the Barbary Corsairs, none of them liked the idea of Britannia coming in to "restore order".

Britannia itself was always a touchy subject. It wasn't the sort of thing the Senators brought up and spoke of openly, but many of them disliked Britannian rule. Not necessarily Lelouch himself, but Britannia as a whole- they knew it was only due to negotiation with the Emperor on Lelouch's part that they managed to avoid the absolute rule so frequent in the Empire's other territories. There were rumors among the Senate that Lelouch shared their sentiments, that he disliked the Emperor as much as they did, but that wasn't the sort of question you could just ask, obviously.

* * *

Schneizel's diplomatic station in St. Petersburg meant that news from Europe could take a while to arrive, although it certainly taught him the value of patience- and a good horse. He read newspapers and letters knowing full well that by the time he started forming opinions and theories about the events within, the action might already be over or it may have evolved in a way he could not have possibly expected.

The chain of events that started with the death of Emperor Napoleon and ended with the Regency for Alexander II were completely unpredictable, but that didn't mean his job of managing relations with Russia was any less critical, even if he had to manage using guesswork.

Being informed of Cornelia's march into Persia at the same time as the Tsar was a particularly… interesting surprise. He really had to scramble just to keep the Tsar from taking it as an attempt by the Britannians to gain an edge in Asia.

The Pasha of Egypt's revolt against the Ottoman Sultan was the only outbreak of war yet since the Peace at Versailles, although if Schneizel was a betting man he knew he'd have money on things in the Netherlands getting dicey. Of course, there was also the chance of Russia or the Danubians attempting to exploit Ottoman weakness- not necessarily starting a war, as most of Europe was focused on their balance of power, but concessions and treaties.

Demands could be made of the Sultan, but for now the Regent was content to wait, to see how Pasha acted. If he was too brash and pushed too hard, he would probably face the threat of European intervention, but even that intervention could go several ways. It was fairly obvious that the Ottoman Empire was suffering. Even with its reconquest of Greece, the sick man of Europe was failing, and a potential way to help fix that problem would be to put someone more capable in charge… like the Pasha.

Schneizel would not cry any tears over the end of the House of Osman, but a man as driven and competent as Muhammad Ali at the head of the Ottoman Empire… he had a dangerous amount of potential.

Of course, Schneizel had to think about all of this in the context of what was best for Britannia and the world, and what was best for Britannia, in regards to the Turks, was mainly focused on the Suez. Napoleon himself went to Egypt in hopes of cutting off Britannian access to India, and now that they had Italy, their Mediterranean interests seemed even more important, which meant making sure that the controller of the Suez remained on good terms with Britannia. Preferably, this could be done without provoking war, but Schneizel couldn't predict the future and what might become of it.

Britannian Italy really had thrown a wrench in a lot of the intricate politics of Europe, and even if he could barely remember an Italy that wasn't ruled by a foreign power, Italy was a large power on the continent, worth a lot more than the sum of the states the French swept up. For now, Britannia managed to stay mostly aloof and disconnected despite of their interests in the Mediterranean, but there was a disturbing amount of power in the hands of his younger brother, Lelouch.

Lelouch parleyed with kings and diplomats at Versailles while the Emperor stayed in London, and while it was certainly strange to think that a Viceroy was more engaged in European diplomacy than the Emperor he ruled for, it was true. Schneizel had heard rumors of a deal with Metternich surrounding Habsburg claims in Italy, and the concerning fact was simply that Lelouch managed the entire deal without ever having to refer to the Emperor. Britannia's deal with Sicily meant the reins had to be a little looser, but Lelouch had a disturbing amount of agency in Europe.

He had also heard rumors of one of the men who had been attracted to Lelouch's court, Earl Asplund. The man's eccentricities had not won him favor among the nobility, but if Schneizel wasn't stationed in St. Petersburg he might have tried to hire him- he was clearly brilliant, and anyone who thought his personality wasn't a price worth paying for his inventions wouldn't have grasped their true value. News was slow, but Schneizel was sure if anyone could do something newsworthy with Lloyd's inventions, it was Lelouch.

* * *

The Italian fleet departed from Tunisia on October 2nd, with plans to sail around Sfax and the island of Djerba before sailing straight to Tripoli. Depending on what happened there, the Italian fleet might have to start… chastising Barbary ports until the Bey agreed to his demands.

Curiously, Tripoli had a commonality with Malta, in that both used to be owned by the Knights Hospitaller, who themselves paid tribute to the Spanish. Lelouch wished he could get away with only giving the Emperor a falcon instead of taxes, but the Knights were a special case and vassals by the loosest definition. Funnily enough, the Knights also fought Barbary piracy before the French kicked them off of Malta and Britannia moved in. The Ottomans took Tripoli centuries before the French took Malta, of course, and the city was now ruled by the descendants of a Janissary officer who killed the previous governor and took over, and his descendants still ruled.

Parts of Tunis, especially in the north, were surprisingly verdant- he could see farmers working away in the fields, beginning to sow their winter crops, and mountains thick with trees- but as they sailed south, desert swallowed up the land, occasionally broken up by small cities surrounded by careful irrigation systems.

It took them a few days to reach Tripoli, in large part because their bomb ships were slowing them down, and while they sailed, Lelouch wrote. He wrote to Lloyd, carefully explaining his idea about screw propellers and their deal with Tunis, but he also wrote to Nunnally, with hopes of sending the letter to Venice when they came back to Sicily to resupply and fill up their coal bunkers. He didn't finish the letter, for fairly obvious reasons, but if he couldn't do anything else, then he figured he could write to his sister.

_Dear Nunnally,_

_I hope that this letter reaches you and Euphemia in good health. Our campaign in Barbary was has gone well- we defeated a pirate fleet recently, and we came to an amicable arrangement with the Bey of Tunis. In exchange for industrial assistance, the Bey has promised an end to piracy, although I cannot say how the other lords of the Maghreb will feel about it-_

"Who are you writing to, Lelouch?" Cornelia was sitting nearby, and she seemed to be handling all the sailing well- she had done a lot more of it than Lelouch.

"Nunnally. I plan on sending this letter when we resupply at Sicily, and I figure I should try to reassure her more. I can't imagine only hearing about Nunnally's health through newspapers and rumors- it would drive me mad. She's as safe as she can be back in Italy, and she can manage things on her own… but I want her to worry a little less."

After a few moments of silence, Cornelia sighed. "Do you have some spare stationery?"

Lelouch smiled. "Of course."

He gave her a dip pen with a steel nib, which she looked at quizzically for a few seconds before beginning to write. "Do you have something against quill pens, little brother?"

"I do a lot of writing, and I have no interest in running a goose farm for the sole purpose of providing feathers." For a few minutes, there was no sound except the creaking of the ship's wooden planks and the scratching of quill on parchment.

"Do you write Nunnally often?"

"Not usually. When in Sicily, my trips around the island were fairly short, and I wouldn't be separated from her for more than few days- when I conquered Italy, there was so much to do that writing Nunnally just slipped my mind. Did you write Euphemia?"

"No. Sometimes we wouldn't see each other for months, with me on campaign and Euphemia in a palace somewhere."

"Did you just leave her there, with nothing to do?"

Cornelia stopped writing for a few moments, thinking. "Well, there were libraries and gardens…"

"I can't say for sure, but she'd probably be happier doing something. Anything. I can't imagine how she or Nunnally are feeling right now, knowing that they can't really impact what's going on down here, but when I left to take Italy Nunnally filled in for me as Viceroy as best she could." Lelouch looked down at his paper, where the warm greeting seemed to ring hollow. "We shouldn't treat them so gently, I think. Charles XII took the crown at 15, the Leper King of Jerusalem ruled the age of 15 as well. If those kings could run states, the least we could do is give our siblings a few more responsibilities."

"I suppose. I just don't want her getting hurt."

"That's why you took her with you, isn't it? Keeping her as close as you could manage and as far from London as possible?" Cornelia nodded, and Lelouch continued. "I'll admit, that was part of the reason behind why I exploited the Italian situation."

"Really?"

"It seemed like the perfect way to keep Nunnally safe. Part of the reason I converted was to get as far away from court politics as possible. I'd be hard to replace as Viceroy of Italy, further securing my position- and through me, Nunnally."

"So all the posturing, the speeches and gesturing…"

"I didn't disagree with the concept of an Italian state or anything like that, it was just… convenient. A happy side effect of keeping my sister safe."

"Dragging Euphemia along was the best way I could think of to keep her out of the court- I was deathly afraid that father would marry her off, but at least that fear seems unfounded."

Lelouch nodded. "Isn't that strange? Dozens of siblings, and none of them married."

"One betrothal, actually." Lelouch stopped writing at that.

"Wait, who? Certainly not you or Euphemia, and I'd hope the Emperor would at least inform me of my own marriage…"

"Odysseus is set to marry into the Braganza family, to solidify our claims on Portuguese colonial regions. Britannia had been pushing closer ties to Portugal for a while, and with Britannian power in the new world, the Portuguese couldn't refuse."

Lelouch nodded. Brazil, while not technically Britannian, was deep within their sphere of influence, considering how close Portugal and Britannia had always been- theirs was one of the longest alliances in history, and when Napoleon marched against Portugal, it was because they refused to join the continental system and embargo Britannia. Britannian seizure of Portuguese land was justified as making sure the land didn't fall into another country's hands. "Odysseus as King of Portugal and Brazil… isn't that a concept."

"Well, the marriage was set into place before Portugal was restored. I would imagine things would get more complicated when the Portuguese royal family comes back to take their country."

* * *

Of the two siblings, Lelouch was the most famous, for rather obvious reasons, but people did know Nunnally existed as well. She was popular in Italy: she ruled Sicily in Lelouch's stead well, she was charitable and kind. Notably, she was blind, and was quite possibly the most famous blind person in all of Europe, with the possible exception of Homer or Milton.

Vague rumors of the blind princess of Italy spread all the way to Paris, and more specifically, the National Institute for Blind Children, which was the first school for the blind in the world. Rather obviously, Nunnally did not attend said school, both due to the animosity between Britannia and France and Britannia's less generous view on the blind, which typically saw the blind as… unsalvageable, to put it one way.

The school was host to a number of students, one of whom was known as Louis Braille, who had a bit of a side project: a tactile alphabet, where reading and writing was accomplished by making marks in the paper that could be felt by the reader. The system actually bore descent from an attempt by Napoleon to establish a code of writing that could be read at night, and Braille believed his system was better than quite literally embossing letters onto the pages like the teachers of the school did.

With a bit of help from a teacher who could speak English, the eighteen year old wrote a letter (not in Braille, obviously) describing his system of writing, with materials attached. Of course, he wasn't really expecting a response, but hey, he probably didn't have good chances of getting his teachers to adopt the system, so why not?

* * *

Tripoli was a sprawling city that curved around a natural harbor, (well, as sprawling as a city in a desert could really be), great jetties and piers leading to the city's walls. Like in Tunisia, they loitered outside the city, although the bombships had to anchor themselves to keep the dry sirocco wind from blowing them off course. The hot wind seemed to hint at the vast expanse of the Sahara which Lelouch could see hints of, even if there was some farming on the outskirts of Tripoli.

Lelouch could see a castle on the bay and coastal defenses ringing the harbor, and knew that if the Bey of Tripoli refused to negotiate, things could easily turn violent. As they waited for some sort of response, they let their observation balloon fly and took measure of enemy positions, which became more and more difficult as the sun set and dusk approached, wrapping the city and fleet in gentle twilight.

After a fairly concerning amount of waiting, a ship finally left the harbor and started approaching them, although Lelouch could barely tell- only the gentle swaying of lamps gave away the ship's position. It was odd to sail out on such a big ship… they weren't planning to negotiate now, were they? Not to mention how risky it would be to try to hold a discussion in the middle of the enemy fleet. There was a serious danger of the negotiator being taken hostage, so why….

Then the smell hit him, carried by the wind. Between the normal smell of the salty sea air and hints of old wood and creosote, he thought he caught a whiff of smoke and the characteristic smell of gunpowder. All the strange characteristics of the ship, the way it seemed to drift towards them more than it sailed…

"A fire ship!" The moment those words left his mouth, the men broke into a furor of motion. The ship was following the wind, sailing up towards them without human navigation, which hopefully meant it could be dodged easily- if given time, but it was approaching at speed, so fast that moving out of the way was almost impossible.

If Lelouch was a little brasher, he might have just fired a shell at the ship, but turning the hulk about to crash into them into a burning hulk probably wouldn't improve their chances. Their ship's engine began moving, driving the ship forward and hard to the right, in a desperate attempt to get out of the way. They nearly did, with the other ship's front narrowly missing their ship's side- it was the ship catching against the paddlewheel which sent the crew tumbling. They veered to the side, pulling away from the craft, but the damage to _The Ligurian's_ paddlewheel was obvious.

However, the danger had not passed just because the fireship had, as it was now drifting towards the back of their fleet- and the sluggish bomb ships at the back of their fleet. They managed to turn their gun around and fire into the ship's stern, punching a whole through its back before the ship exploded.

The explosion tore the front of the ship apart, letting water pour into its front and slowing it down as fires raced through it insides, Igniting caches of gunpowder on the ship's insides and tearing up the ship's wood, which were covered in flammable naval stores- pitch and varnish- letting the fire spread rapidly.

Of course, as effective as fire ships were at sowing chaos, a good tactician wouldn't use them alone, and Lelouch turned to see ships slipping out of the harbor, barely visible in the vanishing light. At the very least, they were out of the range of the coastal defenses, but the fleet was in disarray, their signal flags hard to see in the faint light.

If they were using normal ships, this could have been the end: in modern naval battle, ships formed into great lines and launched broadsides at each other, maximizing firepower and minimizing the exposure of their ship's weak fronts and rears. Breaking apart enemy formations was incredibly decisive- and if each gunship of theirs wasn't armed with a steam engine and turret, they would still be stuck in that static form of naval warfare.

Signaling by the light of the burning fire ship, the gunships of the fleet split up, moving in two groups- one of five, one of six- towards the foe, mindful of the enemy's positions on the coasts. Looking back the at the fleet, Lelouch gave one last command before diving into the fray, which was communicated by flag to the bomb ships.

Lelouch turned back to the battle and the approaching ships, organizing the response of his ships and beginning to fire at the lead ships, trying his best to slow the advance of the entire enemy fleet as he waited.

Then he heard it, partially covered by the roaring of the exploding shell guns and the shouting of men- two booms in quick succession from behind them. Turning, he smiled.

Lelouch had heard of the effects of carcass shot, but there was something unreal about it, the shells trailing burning liquid like shooting stars, rising high above them in a beautiful parabola before they crashed down onto the docks of Tripoli, the hollow shells bursting and letting the flaming liquid inside fly freely- onto wooden docks stocked with naval stores and rope, perfect tinder. Great portions of Tripoli were made of stone or stucco, so hopefully the resulting fire wouldn't be too brutal, but Lelouch had other concerns and the carcass shot served as a distraction.

As the two fleets clashed, exploding shells crashing into hulls and tearing the sides of ships apart, the docks of Tripoli burned, smoke drifting up to the sky as the shells flew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never thought writing fanfiction would lead to me researching the history of the Canadian dollar… but here I am.
> 
> I enjoyed writing the Lelouch-Cornelia dialogue scene. They're such interesting characters. Rather obviously, Britannia trying to enforce a personal union on China wasn't going to work out for a number of reasons, and I was bouncing around the idea of having a similar marriage between Portugal and Britannia- and look at that, there's Maria II of Portugal. It even has the squicky arranged marriage age-gap from the original, but there's some timeline fiddling that could be done to lower the creepiness (although it removing entirely is impossible without some real time warping shenanigans).
> 
> Also, what do you guys think about Cornelia? In the original, there were a variety of reasons she wouldn't align with Zero (except for Euphemia reasons) but in this universe things are different, and her main struggle/issue is love of family vs duty to country. Tell me what you think.
> 
> Braille was only adopted at Braille's school 2 years after his death and struggled to spread outside of France in the short term… in our timeline.
> 
> Also, marriage: unless I missed it, it seems like most of Charle's kids are bachelors/bachelorettes, but if there's a neofeudalism thing going on there should be intermarriage with the nobility and stuff, right, other than 37 year old Odysseus marrying Tianzi. If I had to give a Geass-verse explanation, Charles just thought it was pointless- he was so close to the end goal by that point, after all. Instrumentality Ragnarok was so close that caring about his succession was a non issue.
> 
> In my universe, I could think of a few reasons: making sure that any heir who succeeded him was the best and not just riding a spouse's coattails, and assuring that no noble families have a potential claim to press to muck up the succession. If succession got bloody, it would leave a bunch of noble families either pissed at the crown or dead for supporting the wrong heir. Better to just go for the harem route once you've reached the throne.
> 
> As for romance, I don't think it's too likely in this story. Do I think a lover could probably do Lelouch good, help him as a person and in some cases help him pursue his ambitions? Yeah. I like Lelouch x Kaguya, for example, but I'm not going to warp my story around shipping. Sure, could I create circumstances where a half Japanese noblewoman or scion of a proud Japanese line ends up in Italy to hook up with Lelouch? Sure. But it's not the story I want to tell, you know?


	15. To Algiers!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about it a little… and I like Kallen, but I like Kallen as half Japanese, it's a part of her character. That Japanese-ness won't be the same as in canon because canon's Japan is so different from this universe's. Plus, it's an interesting way to explore other parts of the world. So… yeah. Don't expect shipping though.
> 
> Kallen can't play the same role of knightmare pilot that she did in the original, but she could be a good officer or maybe something like a sharpshooter? But it will take a while- Kallen distrusted the original Lelouch, she fought for Zero, and the closest to that in this universe will be when Italy declares independence.
> 
> So am I kind of retconning? Yeah. But I think Kallen gives me a chance to explore interesting parts of the world, and that's a part of this story I enjoy.

Lelouch was almost surprised when the sun rose (it felt far too early, although he supposed he was awfully busy), exposing the damage done to both their fleet and Tripoli. The Italian fleet had come out of the fighting largely undamaged, other than the damage to _The Ligurian's_ paddlewheel, which meant they had two floating batteries instead of one. Thankfully, none of the Tripolitans were quite bold enough to try a cutting out- seizing a ship at night using small boats- as Lelouch had to admit that boarding parties were a weakness of theirs.

The city itself wasn't too bad, although the occasional shell did get close. The city's walls kept the fires that consumed the docks from spreading inside the city, although it wasn't like a fire would be nearly as disastrous in Tripoli as it would be in other cities considering the lack of wooden structures. On the subject of defensive works, what coastal batteries they managed to locate in the dark of the night were destroyed or abandoned after being bombarded.

Some of the city's defenses were still up, but their military fleet was mostly sunk, and after a while one of the city's remaining craft, a little merchant sloop, began to sail towards them gingerly, a white flag flying on the ship's mast.

Of course, the ship wasn't carrying Yusuf Karamanli, the actual Bey of Tripoli, but rather a representative of his. The representative chattered with their one Arabic speaker- and the man turned to them after a few moments. "The Bey is now willing to hear our demands, considering the damage done to his city."

Lelouch smiled. "Give him our demands- free trade for Britannian shipping and an end to piracy against Britannian ships. And warn him that if our demands aren't met, we'll come for Benghazi before shelling Tripoli again."

Eventually, the unfortunate Tripolitan who was sent to speak with them got back on his boat and returned to shore- Lelouch was sure the Bey wouldn't take the news well, and Lelouch was expecting a different man to come and try to negotiate with them.

Sure enough, when the sloop came back a different man clambered on board _The Ligurian_ and relayed the Beys' response. "The Bey agrees to your requests, vi Britannia." Lelouch was sure that wasn't the entire story- he could imagine the arguments that must have gone on in the city- if what the Bey of Tunis told him was correct, the ruler of Tripoli had a temper and probably didn't accept Lelouch's demands with grace.

Of course, they had to wait a bit longer to draw up a proper treaty and make sure everything was in order, but they left for Marsala within the day. It was October 6th, and they hoped to reach western Sicily within a few days, with the sirocco winds at their backs. It would practically be straight north, and they wouldn't even have to pass by Malta.

The expedition had actually been pretty short so far, and Britannia probably hadn't caught on. With good fortune, the garrison at Gibraltar would only hear about his war against the Barbary corsairs when they sailed up. He supposed there was no real reason to keep it secret- they would probably be done and back in Venice before an order to stop could arrive (assuming that such an order would even be given)- but if their campaign caught Britannia completely by surprise, that was a good sign for their future endeavors.

Gibraltar and the islands composing Malta were bastions of Britannian control in the Mediterranean (not counting Italy) and the Maltese archipelago would play a key role in any war of the independence. The islands of Malta and Gozo were dangerously close to Italian shores, and if he was willing to look like an aggressor he could probably take the islands before Britannia could reinforce them.

Lelouch would prefer the islands in his hands instead of Britannia's, and there were even cultural ties between Malta and his own home of Sicily if he wanted to push the idea that Malta would be better off under his protection. They had been acquired by Britannia some years before taking Sicily and while they had managed to affect the island some, the Sicilian influence on the island was clear (not that Lelouch could speak a lick of Maltese).

* * *

Kallen Stadtfeld hated the Cape Colony. Her father had convinced himself that his fortune was waiting for them in Italy, and brought his family with him. His harridan of a wife, his 'half-breed' child and her mother came along as well, although Kallen wasn't looking forward to Italy if this Lelouch was anything like his brother Clovis.

When they landed at the Cape, they were invited to Pendragon, Clovis' palace complex, to feast and celebrate. The Viceroy was proudly toasting his younger brother and regaling his crowd of sycophants with tales from their boyhood- although Kallen suspected the Viceroy probably didn't win as many chess matches as he said he did. It took actual strategic competence to run a military campaign, which Clovis seemed to lack, although he certainly had the charisma required to lead people, if not a state.

Of course, being a skilled tactician didn't make this Lelouch fellow any better. He had consigned millions of people to one of the most tyrannical governments in the world- well, she supposed that was part and parcel for Europe, but still- although Kallen did have to admit that some of her dislike of Britannia was personal.

Her father had ties with the Dutch, and managed to get into Dejima while it was still ruled by the Dutch East India Company, and was one of the first Britannians to mingle with the Japanese, even if in a very limited capacity. Of course, he also mingled with the Japanese in another way… and Kallen was a result of that mingling. She knew the only reason he kept a bastard (in the very genuine sense of being born out of wedlock) like her around was because she was the only hope for her father's line- her stepmother seemed to be infertile.

So she was raised on Dejima, not quite Japanese and not quite Britannian. The Britannians didn't like her for her Japanese blood, and the Japanese… well Kallen had heard enough whispers of _ainoko_ , in-between child, to know her that her "countrymen" weren't particularly hospitable either. She was taught both English and Japanese, and had plenty of chances to speak both languages, in addition to hearing whispered insults in both.

Her father's business had started to fall apart in Japan, and he decided to search for greener pastures while he still had the money to move. Perhaps that was the real reason behind his stay with Clovis- trying to exploit his hospitality for as long as the Viceroy would tolerate them- and for now, the wine kept on flowing.

The Viceroy had a charming veneer, but he was going to drive Kallen daft. Some of his eccentricities, while wasteful, weren't actively offensive. He liked to paint? Fine. He spent tax money on massive menageries crawling with exotic animals, like Cape lions and mountain zebras, which was wasteful, but wasn't grating (except to Kallen's own sense of frugality). However, his biggest flaw in character was his rakishness.

He loved women, and for some reason, women seemed to love him. Kallen supposed there wouldn't be a scandal if he kept his own little harem and stayed silent about it- the Emperor was a famed polygamist after all- but he seemed happy to chase anything with a skirt, including Kallen.

Lots of unsolicited comments about how the administration could use an "extra pair of hands" (Kallen could imagine exactly where Clovis wanted her hands to be, and it wasn't anywhere near paperwork) and many uninvited touches. If he was this forward when approaching the heiress to a prominent noble family, Kallen didn't want to imagine how he treated his staff. If Kallen was one of those poor Boer serving girls, she would have poisoned him already- at least Clovis was an equal opportunities pervert, and would sleep with a Dutch girl as easily as a Britannian one.

Clovis didn't have nearly as many paramours as his father did but unlike his father, he had no children- at all. Of course, that was the sort of thing Clovis would want to sweep under the rug to maintain his reputation, but Kallen really didn't want to know how- she supposed there could be a perfectly innocent reason like infertility, but… she doubted it.

Hopefully, her father would decide to sail for Italy sooner rather than later- murdering a prince was the sort of thing that would get her in trouble, after all.

* * *

As Lord Stadtfeld sailed for Italy, another merchant was waiting to leave the country. Reuben Ashford was waiting in Marsala, which was just about as far west as you could reasonably get in Sicily. The _Italia_ was prepared for her voyage, her holds filled with Italian wines and glass, but they weren't willing to risk such precious cargo (and such a precious ship) to piracy, so Ashford waited for Lelouch to resupply at Sicily, so the fleet could escort the ship most of the way to the Atlantic.

News of the campaign was spreading, but the rumormongers couldn't agree about where Lelouch was sailing to, other than the fact that they departed from Venice. Ashford and his crew knew what Lelouch was actually up to of course, but he did have to admit that the rumors made the wait more entertaining. Many of the fishwives were leaning towards some bold seizure of the holy land, which amused Ashford to no end. Lelouch was about as pious as a brick, but the public didn't know that, so they assumed from what they did know.

Lelouch had a sudden religious revelation (or at least seemed to) while on the road to Rome and willingly gave up his claim to the Empire for the sake of his religion- he even got among amicably with the Pope! It almost would have been believable if Ashford didn't know the boy since childhood. The way in which the public viewed Lelouch outside of his religion was interesting as well.

Of course, his mother's Sicilian heritage and common birth were a large part of his appeal- without Italian blood, he wouldn't have been able to unify Italy. His commoner roots meant that he had a sort of appeal that a "normal" royal wouldn't, he didn't feel like an import or a foreign oppressor. Some of the more educated saw shades of Justinian in him- an Emperor of common descent, a restorer of Italy, a lawmaker- even if Lelouch wasn't the son of a swineherd, and lived in the lap of luxury from his birth.

At the very least, the French invasion tore down barriers (even if they did eventually try to build them back up) and encouraged a greater Italian identity, and Lelouch would forever be associated with harnessing that sentiment, leading Italy to a unified state. Sure, republicans grumbled and he wasn't universally supported, but there was a certain romance about him anyways. Lelouch was attached to modern Italy in an unusual, almost unique way, at least from Ashford's point of view. Britannia had been Britannia for hundreds of years- sure, they frequently integrated new lands or centralized the government, but the state stayed similar throughout- Britannia never went through a unification like this- at least not recently. If the state's founding myth of pushing back the Romans was true, Britannia was the result of a sort of British unification, which was similar to the Italian unification, he supposed.

* * *

The Italian unification was a subject of discussion north of the Alps as well, in the relatively new German Confederation. It truly was a confederacy, an alliance or league of German princes, and all it managed to accomplish, as of yet, was a pact of mutual defense, which was a serious threat- the German states maintained some of the militarization they had before the French takeover, when the princes of the Holy Roman Empire feuded frequently and as such kept large standing armies- and a tentative customs union.

The Empire of the Danube certainly had German territories- Austria and the Sudetenland ringing Bohemia- but the Confederation and the Empire of the Danube had gone their separate ways. Even the name change was indicative of a more eastern focus, away from Germany proper. Sure, the Danube traced its way through Bavaria, but the Habsburgs had decided to turn east, towards Belgrade, towards Buda and Pest.

All in all, things looked good for the various countries of Germany- the French may have occupied them, but they also swept away nearly a millenia of old traditions and red tape, stretching back to the division of Charlemagne's empire into three pieces. That was an interesting thing that Germany shared with Italy- the idea of a German state was an old one, even if it was tied into the Holy Roman Empire.

When the Holy Roman Empire existed it was nominally composed of several kingdoms: Bohemia, Burgundy, Germany, and Italy. As the Empire grew less powerful, it became more associated with Germany, until the French finally put the state of its misery. The idea of a German state lived on though, even if the various princes of the region were content to wait. They had lost so much authority to the French- why give it up to a Prussian?

A similar attitude could be found in their foreign policy- sure, there were Germans in the Empire of the Danube or across the border in Schleswig and Holstein, but why spill more blood? Let the rest of Europe squabble- they cared very little for the Walloons or Flemings, the Italians or Britannians.

* * *

They eventually docked western Sicily to resupply, and Lelouch made sure to send his letters out before reuniting with Reuben Ashford. Hopefully, his letter to Lloyd would reach the man quickly- an entirely new propulsion system would probably take a while to develop. That would certainly be something- the paddlewheel steamboat made obsolete a few decades after its development- but Lelouch refused to be left behind in changing times, even if that meant pouring more money into Asplund's scheming.

Lelouch smiled as he saw Lord Ashford ordering stevedores and sailors around with all the confidence of a man who had been trading for longer than Lelouch had been alive. Hopefully, his trade expeditions would help make up for all the money Lelouch poured into his pet projects.

Ashford turned when Lelouch approached and embraced him- when the man wasn't busy away on trade, he had played a very fatherly role in Lelouch's life, when that role wasn't being filled by Jeremiah, who had signed up to guard an Empress and found himself teaching Lelouch how to shave, among a litany of other minor domestic concerns (well, until Lelouch became a man grown and Jeremiah's military experience became more valuable).

After a few seconds, Cornelia spoke up. "Lord Ashford?" She recognized the man vaguely, in large part due to his connections to Marianne.

He separated himself from Lelouch and gave a grandfatherly smile. "Your highness. It's been years."

"What brought you to Italy, Lord Ashford? The last I heard, you were off trading in the East?"

Ashford shrugged. "We were already headed in the direction of Europe on business when news of Lelouch's campaign reached us."

Cornelia raised her eyebrows. "And it just happened to be good business?"

Ashford shrugged his shoulder. "Of course, opening up the Italian markets was good for trade, but that didn't mean the only reason I decided to visit Lelouch was economic."

Lelouch smiled and redirected the conversation- this particular line of conversation was pointless. "Ashford has been a great help, and we're going to be escorting him to Gibraltar, to protect the _Italia_ from the corsairs."

"The _Italia…_ is it iron plated?"

"No. Iron hulled." Cornelia's eyes widened a little at that, but after another glance at the ship she nodded as Lelouch continued. "Its holds are filled with wares for the Britannian markets- fine wines and Murano glass. Hopefully, this will be the first trade expedition of many."

Unfortunately, they wouldn't have time to repair the paddlewheels on their two damaged craft, but Lelouch didn't really mind- they were getting better at handling normal sailing ships with the exploding shell guns, and that was a skill Lelouch wanted his men to practice, just in case.

Lelouch had visited Marsala once or twice before, largely due to its prominence in the wine trade- in fact, some of the wine on the _Italia_ was produced in the city itself. It was as charming as most Sicilian coastal towns were, and it was nice to be home again, walking on Sicilian soil, even if only for a while. Time waited for no man after all, and the sooner they sailed for Algiers the sooner Ashford could reach London and the sooner Lelouch and Cornelia could get back to Venice.

* * *

The _Italia_ truly was a wonder, cutting through the sea on a completely iron hull, and it served to heighten Lelouch's hopes for a potential iron sided craft. He could imagine the incredible possibilities of a ship designed entirely around warfare and countering previous ships, and hopefully Lloyd would give something like that to Lelouch, even if it took a while.

They sailed north of Tunis and followed the north African coast, and Lelouch had to admit it was an incredibly stark contrast to the deserts of Tripoli. The cliffs and hills were high and craggy in some places, but they were comparatively lush and were dotted with trees. He could certainly understand a European power desiring to take the land over- it was just a quick hop over the Mediterranean, and it would certainly be easier to control and influence than say, Australia. All a power like France would need is an excuse- and piracy could be a possible excuse to start a war and take the region over.

Bringing in European families to settle the land would of course have catastrophic effects on local culture, and would push natives closer to the inhospitable desert, but would a colonial power care? There was so much promise in the coast, on the surface, but diving in would only reveal a series of problems- it was rather like colonialism. How much good could Britannia be doing its people if it didn't have to focus on keeping the colonies in line?

Eventually, they reached the bay of Algiers, where the Bey of Algiers lived, fittingly enough, in Algiers. The city was another sprawling affair, and Lelouch could see a number of minarets towering above the streets, and as the sun reached its zenith in the sky he could faintly hear calls to prayer all across the city. Once again, Lelouch's fleet settled down in the middle of the city's harbor and waited.

* * *

The Bey eventually invited them to talk with him within the fortified keep of the city, the casbah- Lelouch was uncomfortable with walking straight into a potentially hostile city, of course, but working out a deal with Hussein Dey was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

Of course, he was accompanied by Cornelia, Jeremiah, and the guards, although Lord Ashford had decided to stay behind. Lelouch was painfully aware that he was the only person in the group incapable of fighting well on his own, but that wasn't something he could remedy in the short term, if his constitution even allowed it.

The fortified casbah was an impressive feat of architecture, even if its delicate horseshoe shaped arches and intricate pillars felt like a prison hemming him in. Jeremiah and Cornelia were both particularly wary, their eyes flitting around, searching for any potential threats that may have been lurking in the shadows of those beautifully decorated walls.

The Bey and his retinue seemed amicable enough upon first greeting Lelouch and his companions, but it was evident that everyone was on edge, hands hovering close to their sword's hilts. In contrast, Hussein Dey idly fanned the air with a fly whisk, although Lelouch supposed that he certainly wasn't one to judge a man for potentially lacking martial prowess.

"What brings you to Algiers, Britannia?"

"I came in hopes of reaching an amicable agreement about Barbary piracy." The Bey tensed, his eyes narrowing at a potential threat to one of his biggest sources of revenue.

"What do you hope for, Britannia? I assume an end to piracy against your country, with nothing in return in exchange? Are you just here to rattle your saber?"

"I would like to make a deal that we could both agree upon. In exchange for an end to piracy against Britannian shipping, I would be willing to supply you with modern industrial technology to help make up for your losses."

The Bey huffed. "Promises, promises. Did you know that the French still owe us debt, Britannia? A new government may rule from Paris, but that does not mean they care for their obligations. What proof do I have you will not keep the secrets of factories to yourself?"

Lelouch sighed. "Do you need some sort of insurance? If you wish, I could probably draw you a schematic for a steam engine right now, as a gesture of good faith."

Hussein Dey stroked his magnificent beard contemplatively. "You are awfully confident that these steam engines will make up for the revenues of piracy, vi Britannia. Why are you so confident that these will change the world when so many other inventions haven't?"

"Britannia is already reaping the rewards of producing on a massive scale- iron, textiles, even weapons- the block mills at Portsmouth have revolutionized naval production, for example. Manufacture is so much faster than before it's hard to describe. With industrial machinery, one worker can manage dozens of spools at once."

"An interesting proposal, but Algiers is not Britannia. We do not have great herds of sheep to shear or colonies with sprawling fields of cotton. Piracy will continue to work for Algiers, even if you think factories are the future for your country."

Lelouch sighed in annoyance. "And you'd consign yourself to the history books? How long until your pirates evoke the wrath of one of the other European powers, one with fewer qualms about taking over Algiers, and with the industrial power to hammer down your walls and forts?"

"You're awfully confident, Britannia. You come to my city, to my country, to tell me that our way of life is no longer reasonable. Have you considered that we do not want your salvation, Britannia?"

"I came here hoping to make an exchange. One that would benefit both of us- no pirates plaguing my country, and a better future for yours. Salvation may be a strong word… but a wise ruler would wish to gain every advantage he could, wouldn't he?"

The Bey's face colored at that. "What are you implying, Britannia?"

"That this is your best chance to catch up with the other European powers, to show them you are an equal worthy of respect and not a primitive governor of a backwater to be crushed underfoot when given any provocation."

His expression grew thunderous and he rose from his seat, fly whisk still in his hand. Lelouch could scarcely believe it when the man struck out with the whisk, apparently trying to strike him. Lelouch, as physically lacking as he was, remembered enough from his sword fighting training to dodge such an obviously broadcasted attack.

Of course, an attempted attack on a member of the Britannian Imperial Family wasn't something that could be easily overlooked, and Lelouch could the raspy sound of swords being pulled from sheathes as Jeremiah took a step in front of him.

The Bey's guards responded in kind, pulling out their long curved swords, and Lelouch decided that he should try a different approach, and looked Hussein Dey dead in the eyes before raising his voice. "I will warn you that I have ordered my men to begin shelling the city if I don't return to the ships by sundown. I can assure you that if you're having economic troubles, having your city shelled will not improve them."

Of course, Lelouch was bluffing and had given no such order, but his guards realized what he was going for immediately and didn't react in a way that would raise the Bey's suspicion. The Bey's ruddy expression turned white when he heard Lelouch's threat.

"I assure you, we've done it before. Our guns launch exploding shells, and we've sunk fleets off of Tripoli and Tunisia already. More than a dozen crafts with all the destructive power of mortars, and if I don't come back…"

After a few moments, the Bey conceded. "So what are your demands, Britannia?"

* * *

They negotiated a similar deal to the one they made in Tripoli- free trade and an end to piracy against Britannian trade- and Lelouch had also promised industrial support for Algiers. That meant that of the three Barbary lords, the only one who wasn't going to receiving aid was Tripoli- and Lelouch had to admit that of the three, Tripoli was almost unsalvageable.

Other than a dusting of minor farms near the ocean and some more major ones near Benghazi, the land was lacking in resources… was there anything at all of value in those desert sands? Well, Lelouch supposed that most people probably didn't care too much about Wales until they found coal, but if Tripoli had some natural resource worth exploiting, they hadn't discovered it yet.

With business in Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria done, that left only one other den of Barbary piracy: Morocco. He didn't know much about the Sultan, but Lelouch was hopeful that the man was forward thinking enough to align himself with Lelouch's interests.

* * *

Of course, they couldn't reach Morocco without passing by the Rock of Gibraltar- a Britannian settlement, and the closest to Italy after Malta- a towering precipice of limestone that the Britannian government had held for years. It was tremendously fortified: tunnels were carved through the rock, connecting dozens of batteries specially designed to fire down at Spanish positions. The King's Lines, the Queen's Lines, the Prince's Lines- trenches were etched into the cliffs, fortified with bricks and landscaped to make approach almost impossible. In addition, the Britannian military had carved out hundreds of feet of tunnel with hammer, crowbar, and powder, all while the French and Spanish besieged them during the American Rebellion.

That rose an interesting question- who would the powers of Europe side with, if war between Italy and Britannia began? In the past, France and Spain fought with the failed American Republic, more to weaken Britannia than out of any belief in republican ideals. That was the best possible way things could go, but Lelouch wasn't expecting anything like that. Italy was surrounded by reactionary powers, and it would be so easy to sell an Italian revolt as a resurgence of the same republican disease. At the same time, Britannia's relationship with the continent were… shaky, at best.

Maybe if Lelouch adopted more traditional or religious styling, he could present himself as a religious rebel of sorts- a Catholic standing up against Anglican tyranny. However, that would alienate certain elements in his government, which would cause its own problems. Lelouch certainly didn't expect an easy path if he revolted against the Britannian government, and he only would if he was forced to- he had to admit he was in a pretty good place. However, if the pressure grew too great, then he might be forced to jump ship.

If he managed to balance things out to a simple war between Britannia and Italy, Gibraltar would prove critical. Of course, the strait was a little too wide to try something like simply blocking it with a chain like they used to do in the Golden Horn of Constantinople, but if he managed to take the Rock it would serve as a base of operations to control the only entrance to the Mediterranean. Seizing the Rock (which was much easier said than done) and blocking the strait would be his best possible chance at crippling Britannian supply. Of course, that idea was dependent on being able to beat Britannia at sea, which was… possible, if Lloyd managed to whip up some form of ironclad, but for now exploiting the natural bottleneck (well, it was 9 miles wide, but it was the best possible point to defend) of the strait was out of his reach.

Lelouch idly wondered if the Hessians were still hiring out- their soldiers had served alongside the Britannians during the American Revolution. Italy did have the Alps, which gave them a defensive barrier to the north. Pair that with a navy of sufficient power, and Italy might just be able to triumph- but those were all very long term possibilities. For now, Britannia was his "beloved" suzerain and he was chastising the Barbary corsairs for the Empire's sake.

There was a bit of alarm at the Rock when they saw a fleet approaching, but by the time Lelouch's fleet had docked the garrison was welcoming them warmly. Even as the garrison's commander welcomed them to Gibraltar, Lelouch thought about how he could potentially undermine the fortress, or at least take it with little effort. Ideally, a takeover would be fast- a long siege would be bad enough, especially if the Spanish got involved in the war, and Lelouch might be able to exploit his royal blood for that. It would require a bit of planning of course, but he might just be able to walk in and take over from the inside- or at least cut off the head of the snake and take control. Perhaps the captain would be willing to cooperate, perhaps the garrison wouldn't; it was all unpredictable, so Lelouch decided to focus on something he actually could do to better his chances.

They sent Russo up in his balloon, and Lelouch made a show of it to the garrison, explaining how it helped them catch corsairs before they could approach, and its potential applications on the battlefield. He could see the soldiers gawking, and he could practically imagine the Spanish peasantry in nearby villages staring too; it was an unusual sight, even if they couldn't see Russo scribbling away at a map up there, drawing sketches of the defensive lines as best he could. Of course, he was no Renaissance artist, but he could get the specifics of a fortress or the like close enough for Lelouch's purposes.

The trenches carved into the cliffs were definitely interesting, and Lelouch wondered if they could be replicated on a smaller scale. When the Romans built their great works in the field, they began with trenches and ramparts; unfortunately, Lelouch didn't have any sort of pioneer or sapper units like many other militaries had. Issuing spades would be another expense, but being able to set up trenches, whether to approach defensive works or set up lines to slow an enemy's advance had tremendous tactical value. Especially with all the rifles they had, if he ordered the men to aim carefully from a defensive position…

Lelouch smiled and started a conversation with the garrison's commander- in part to gauge what sort of man he was, and to ask him about the methodology behind his defensive works. He was more than happy to discuss the specifics of the fortifications with Lelouch- after all, why would he doubt the intentions of the man who conquered Italy out of love for Britannia?

* * *

A rider traveled up the length of Italy, carrying a handful of priority letters from the Viceroy to Venice- they were intended for vi Britannia's sister and the scientist he patronized, Lord Asplund. The rider had no idea what was inside the letters, of course, and had no interest in attempting to break the seals to find out, not to mention how wrong it would feel to intercept the communications between a man and his sister. Admittedly, the letter to Lord Asplund sounded interesting, especially because the messenger had seen the man's inventions at work, but whatever was written inside the letter wasn't his business.

* * *

_Lord Asplund,_

_Your exploding shell guns have proven extremely useful- they're capable of sinking entire ships. I fear that you have ended an age, Lord Asplund, and sail will soon be surpassed by steam. That's the purpose of this letter, I suppose. While sailing near Tripoli, one of our paddlewheels was damaged, and I came to a realization- why not replace the paddlewheel with a screw?_

_I could imagine a ship entirely covered in iron plating, thick enough to block cannonballs, armed with an exploding shell gun, and an underwater screw of some kind to propel it. It would revolutionize naval warfare, a terror of the seas that would haunt the dreams of admirals across the world- perhaps you could call it the Nightmare? I am confident your work will be excellent, as usual._

_Sincerely,_

_Lelouch vi Britannia_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> … Kallen's mom is hot. Like seriously, it's obvious where Kallen got it from. I was considering involving her mom in opium, (maybe I still will) because I imagine it's the sort of thing Britannian traders would be bringing with them and serves as a parallel to Refrain, complete with destructive properties. Or is Refrain designed to mirror opium? Whatever.
> 
> I might use Kallen as a way to explore another way in which people might get tired of Britannia. In canon, her hate was founded on a love of Japan and a desire to avenge her brother, neither of which are concerns here. So, taking that core of rebelliousness and exploring another way that hate might develop could be fun.
> 
> The Boers haven't gone on the Great Trek yet, and are currently stifling under Clovis. I tried to capture some of Clovis' personality- the general dandiness and carefree personality paired with a disturbing brutality when it comes to defending his reputation. I did tune down his disdain for other cultures though- or it could be argued that Dutch speaking Boers would be more tolerable to a Britannian than the Japanese.
> 
> Isolationist Germany (or German states) was an interesting choice that I liked. I could imagine a Germany coming out the other side of the French revolution and just being completely uninterested in the world outside. The Confederation of the Rhine bled for Napoleon- why fight more?
> 
> The Fly Whisk incident was a real thing, although my version is fictionalized- technically, it should have happened already in April, to a Frenchman. I guess the French in my universe were a bit more financially responsible- it falls into the same category as the Paixhans gun, I suppose. Why does the bey address Lelouch as Britannia? It's my way of showing the weirdness of the Britannian naming system, and how picking up on the vi in Lelouch's name isn't intuitive.
> 
> Calling the first true ironclad Nightmare or some equivalent was something I wanted to do for a while. It's easily one of the most revolutionary weapons of the century with the exception of the Maxim gun or breech loader. Well now that I list them there's tons of uber dangerous new weapons in the 19th century, but you get my point. Total sea change, literally.
> 
> Imagining Jeremiah as a father figure to Lelouch and Nunnally is honestly hilarious though.


	16. Setting Sail for Salé

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn’t resist the pun, sorry guys. So this kind of marks the end of the Barbary Arc, if we want to call it that.

Unfortunately, they couldn't refill their bunkers with coal at Gibraltar, but they did manage to get normal supplies, like water and food, including that classic staple of hardtack. It was a traditional naval ration, along with salted pork, but of the two hardtack was the worst by far, less like bread and more like a brick, to the point that it was practically inedible without dipping it in liquid or cooking it first.

They did have some other supplies on hand, like orange juice to fend off the scurvy, but a majority of the sailor's diet was composed of hardtack and salted pork. It definitely wasn't appetizing, even if Lelouch ate it to demonstrate solidarity with the men, and he was very anxious to try out canning. Relatively fresh Italian tomatoes, Tunisian dates, or the like would be a remarkable change of pace from eating what was basically a rock made of flour and water. Of course, Lelouch wasn't going to shorten the campaign just because he didn't like the food, but simple changes like that could raise the men's spirits.

Of course, there were a number of flaws with canning- including having to use a hammer and chisel to open the things- but Lelouch was optimistic, and certainly wasn't going to pass up on new technology, even if it didn't have the direct martial applications of exploding shell guns or the like.

Now they sailed for Salé and Rabat; the two cities were on either side of the river Bou Regreg, almost like the cities of Buda and Pest on the shores of the Danube- the cities weren't unified, but they shared a river. Salé also had a piratical history, and was actually the headquarters of a short lived piratical state- the Republic of Salé- which participated in Barbary piracy and the slave trade before it was subsumed into the Sultanate of Morocco. Funnily enough, the pirate republic was a beast of Europe's making, founded by Moriscos expelled from Spain- of course, the piratical state had been gone for nearly a century and a half, but the proud tradition of piracy was carried on in North Africa.

So they sailed for Salé and Rabat, although there was a fairly good chance that the Sultan may not have been there. Cities like Fez, Meknes, or Marrakesh were a critical part of the Moroccan state but were also far inland- it could take weeks of riding to inform the Sultan and for him to ride to Rabat, but they were well stocked and could wait things out.

Lord Ashford had already started to sail towards England proper, hugging the coast of Spain with the intent to make a grand tour of it- stick close to the coast of Spain, swing by Lisbon in Portugal, impress the French at Gascony, all the way up to Brittany. From there it was a simple sail across the open sea to Scilly or Cornwall in southwestern England, and then they would show off the ship until reaching London, where the excitement would hopefully reach a boiling point. Hopefully, it would be an excellent start for the Italo-Britannian trade and would serve to show off the might of the Italian Viceroyalty.

The ship would come bearing wine and Italian glass, which was fine enough, but they would also be bringing news of Lelouch's misadventures in Africa. Better to have someone like Ashford spinning the story in his favor then having it reach the Emperor's ear in some other way.

They had hopes of reaching Salé around the 12th or 13th of October, and so far the campaign was quite short; a bit more than a fortnight had passed since they first set sail, and while their wait with Morocco could definitely make the trip stretch, he was hopeful they would be home before the year was over.

* * *

Eventually, Lord Stadtfeld decided to set sail, with hopes of reaching Italy within a month or maybe two, depending on the weather. The Cape's weather was notoriously brutal, and it was furious enough to sink ships, so they decided to wait until conditions were right.

Clovis made sure to give them a "heartfelt" goodbye, and gave them no shortage of gifts before they set off, like wines and candied fruits, but neither really compared to a full lion's coat, with a thick mane. Apparently, the coat was from a man killer in Clovis' menagerie, a particularly mercurial beast that they had tried to tame to little effect. It was one of several animals that had killed their tenders, both Boer and native Khoisan, which was one of many reasons behind the Viceroy's lack of popularity with most of the Cape Colony's population. Kallen couldn't imagine decorating a household with the coat of a confirmed man killer, but her father accepted it with glee, or perhaps he was just excited about any gift from the Viceroy.

The Viceroy had insisted upon dragging Kallen to his menagerie before, a splendid complex of gardens and enclosed faux-wilderness where lions and zebras rested in the hot sun. It was actually impressive, and in some ways downright scientific- they kept great lists of lineages and selectively bred the animals- it would have productive if they were breeding better livestock or the like, but instead all these resources were wasted on practically useless animals: trying to breed domesticable zebras or easygoing lions.

Kallen couldn't speak Dutch, but from what she gathered the native Boers were stifling under Britannian control, at least in most ways. Both Britannians and Boers were united in a disdain for the native Khoisan people, but the Boers felt increasing unhappy with Britannian oversteps. Dutch was still an official language in the region, but she had heard rumors of Clovis planning to change the official language of the colony; because of course, the Viceroy couldn't bring himself to learn the language of a majority of his people!

Would the Viceroy of Italy be so grating? She hoped not, but maybe if she was lucky she wouldn't have to meet the man. It was the same thing in all the Britannian settlements she had been to: a bunch of high and mighty Britannians in their ivory towers who didn't care for the people below them. Thankfully, they hadn't spent as much time in the other Britannian settlements like Calcutta or Jakarta, and they were just stops to resupply, which was a relief. Britannian high society was incredibly grating, and this was especially true for the Viceroys.

Regardless, when the weather cleared, they sailed out for Italy, with a potential stop on one of the European trading posts that dotted the coast of Africa: they were called factories, although they weren't related to the types of factories they had in Britannia proper, great centers of mass production.

* * *

The cities of Rabat and Salé were as beautiful as the rest of the cities dotting the Barbary coast, all tremendous arches and beautiful carvings. Of course, some of the impact of the city was lost when viewed by telescope, but Lelouch managed. They sailed up to the mouth of the river, and while the people of the city had noticed their presence they hadn't gone on the attack- a good sign.

They exchanged messages with the citizens of the city by dinghy, and sure enough, the Sultan of Morocco was away on business, in the city of Fes, deep inland. After some discussion, they sent a message to the Sultan with a rider, calling him to the city as soon as was reasonable; of course, that didn't mean it would be soon, and it might take him days to ride over. The Sultan was responsible to no man, and he could take his sweet time to ride to Rabat.

Lelouch was curious about the Moroccans in many ways, but one area of interest was cryptography- making communications secure. Of course, for something as simple as a summons, there wasn't a real reason to keep it secret, and the only important thing about it was verifying that it was real, something that could be accomplished with say, a seal. Even so, there were times when greater secrecy was needed, when the furor of war forced greater security. Lelouch had to admit that it was something he should adopt himself- he hadn't put any plans against Britannia onto paper, but if things ever reached a point where large scale planning was needed, just writing in Italian wasn't going to be enough.

Cryptography had evolved since the days of Caesar's basic cipher, where letters were simply moved around, and Lelouch knew that it was a delicate business. All it took for the greatest cipher to be cracked open was one person getting the key- the means used to decipher the code- and all the steps taken were for naught. The ideal code should be impossible to break through normally, but should be easy, or at least reasonable, with the proper means.

The ancient Greeks used something as simple as a plain old rod to encrypt their messages, called a scytale. It was a remarkably simple process- take a long strip of paper and wrap it around a rod of a specified diameter, then write your message on the paper down the length of the rod. Unravel the paper and voila, you have a long strip of utter nonsense that needs to be wrapped around a rod of the same diameter in order to make sense.

Of course, the method of encryption kind of implied what was going on- what else were you going to do with a long strip of paper? So you wanted some mode of encryption that could be applied to a normal letter, so that the only way to tell that something was up was if you opened the letter and saw it was full of gibberish.

Ideally, you could make some sort of machine or device that could be used to encrypt and decrypt text without messing with the actual paper the letter was written on. Lelouch may not have been as devoted an inventor as Lloyd Asplund, but he had quite a bit of waiting to do- who knew what he could come up with, given time?

* * *

After some days of waiting, Lelouch hadn't come up with much, and he decided to have a discussion with the men on his ship. They were working on the turret- not to fire on the city, of course, but just for maintenance purposes- when he had the beginning of an idea.

The turret was basically just a cannon on a rotating base, and from above it might have looked a little like a clock, although it only had one arm. A clock was divided into a number of sections, each one meaning something- 1, 2, 3, etc.- where each little slice of the clock had its own distinctive meaning; maybe there was something to storing information on cylinders or disks.

Not necessarily something like the scytale, but maybe the disks could be used for some other reason? Etch the sides of a disk with letters or numbers, and you might be able to do something with that. Collect a bunch of disks- dozens, maybe?- and write all the letters of the alphabet in unique order on the disk's sides. Put the disks on an axle or something, and then spell out your message on one row. After that, you could take any other row of your choice and use that as your encrypted message. Once the message was received, you would recreate the code on your own set and find the actual message.

You could even make it much harder to crack if you shuffled the order of the disks. Number them, maybe, and then keep the order you put the disks in a secret- then the enemy wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of the message, even if they managed to get their hands on a set of the disks.

Ideally, these disks would all be standardized, and they could even make a factory for them, print them like pamphlets even! As long as they kept the order they should be arranged in secret, all the disks in the world couldn't let you crack the code. Nevertheless, there was still some reason to keep the method close to their chests, just to make sure that it didn't spread to other countries, so it could be used against them.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, Russo was the first to spot the Sultan and his entourage, from the heights of his hot air balloon, and he communicated it as best he could by flag (unsurprisingly, they had not developed flag signals for the words Sultan or Morocco, but Russo managed).

It had been about ten days of waiting, and considering how far inland the Sultan was when they first arrived, he must have thought things were urgent. Of course, a threatening fleet menacing one of his cities was a completely reasonable thing to get upset about. After some time (probably spent talking with viziers or reviewing the situation with the ruler of the city) the Sultan sent out a messenger on a little dinghy.

Once again, one of Cornelia's officers translated between Arabic and English; Lelouch was very glad that Arabic was so widespread and Cornelia's officer was so fluent, or they wouldn't have gotten nearly as far.

"Britannians. The Sultan is curious to hear why you've arrived. You mentioned that you planned on negotiating a treaty, but the specifics…" The man had a gentle voice and mild attitude, which carried across even if his words were translated.

Lelouch smiled at the man and responded. "We wish for an end to Barbary piracy against Britannian shipping and free trade, but we are willing to make a deal. Industrial technology, the secrets of steam engines and factories… the Sultan may have heard of them?"

After a bit of back and forth and some clarification, the man sailed back to Salé, to begin their negotiations with the Sultan. Lelouch sighed and realized this might take a while if they had to talk through an intermediary, but there was no way Cornelia or Jeremiah were letting him walk into one of Rabat's forts unless absolutely necessary after Algiers.

* * *

The biggest obstacle in reaching an amicable agreement was honestly the slow process of ferrying messages back and forth, but neither party was too eager to get up close and personal. As it turned out, the Sultan of Morocco was something of a modernizer, and largely urged Barbary piracy to increase his incomes. He seemed interested in a potential alternative, although that may have been motivated by a fear of reprisals more than a faith in industrial technology.

They came to an agreement that was very similar to their arrangements with the lords of Algiers and Tunisia- an end to piracy against Britannian shipping and free trade in exchange for industrial support, and Morocco could definitely stand to benefit. Lelouch had to admit that he was satisfied when he sailed back home, and he was sure the Sultan of Morocco would make a good trading partner in the future, if not a full fledged ally.

Morocco was another rich land that was surprisingly fertile and grew cash crops like sugar; before the Iberians discovered the Americas, sugarcane growth was largely limited to the Arab world- which did include, for a time, areas like Sicily and Cyprus- and some small islands off the coast of Africa, the Canaries and the Madeiras. Sugar was big business, and tiny Caribbean islands could punch far above their weight economically thanks to the crop.

Sugar was popular, especially in tea, and those parts of Europe that were once under the continental system suffered withdrawal from sugar- and made it up with beets. The Prussians developed a way to get pure sugar from beets, and French rule meant the crop and its attached industry spread across Europe, in large part because Napoleon hated the idea of giving the British money. The sugar beet shared a strange sort of patrimony with the chicory root, which was used to substitute for coffee. Of course, once the continental system collapsed in on itself Europe went back to cane sugar, but it showed that it was possible to wean yourself off of cane sugar.

Even with potential friends- and trading partners- in Morocco and the Barbary coast, it was probably in Lelouch's best interest to encourage economic autarky, or self sufficiency, in Italy. That would probably raise a few questions- why exactly would Italy need to produce her own sugar if they're a part of the largest sugar producer in the world- but it would be good for them long term. Lelouch couldn't imagine amicable trade relations with Britannia even if they somehow managed to break free, at least in the short term.

Of course, sugar was a luxury item- a luxury people were very fond of, but a luxury nevertheless. Becoming independent when it came to production would be a lot more important in other areas, like arms. They had lead, iron, and wood to make guns and bullets, and their forests also handily covered the charcoal part of gunpowder, which was complemented by Sicilian sulfur. Saltpeter or nitre was another resource they were somewhat dependent on Britannia for- tremendous quantities of the stuff came from Britannian India, where it was so common ships used it as ballast. That was definitely a good thing, considering how gunpowder was three fourths saltpeter, but it presented a problem: Italy was either going to have to find some saltpeter, stockpile enough to win a war without arousing suspicion, or make their own in nitraries.

Nitraries had some problems of their own, though. In some cases it could take up to a year of maintenance for a farm to bear its deadly fruit, although he supposed there was some use for it, in getting rid of waste- you needed an awful lot of urine to keep the process going. However, Lelouch did not know all of Italy, especially all of its caves and caverns, where saltpeter could generate naturally. Back on dry land, it was perfectly possible to just walk over a deposit without realizing it.

* * *

Eventually, Schneizel had managed to convince the Regent of Russia that the Pasha situation was of critical importance, and the man agreed to send a mission to Istanbul, to discuss a potential solution with the Sultan. The Pasha's impending approach was worrying- winter might slow him down, but there was no way that Russia could send forces down to reinforce the Sultan in time.

However, something that was impossible for an army wasn't impossible for a small determined party, and after the ride of his life, Schneizel found himself in the Ottoman Empire, having left a trail of half dead horses behind him. He was nearly as exhausted as the horses he left behind- he knew full well that the old Tsar had died due to sickness brought on by hard riding, but he needed to talk to the Sultan. They drafted a man who could speak Turkish and just rode.

Schneizel might have enjoyed the landscape if he wasn't riding so quickly- unfortunately everything from Poland to Rumania to Bulgaria was a blur. The Tsar's ambassador tried to talk with Schneizel for the first few days, and even if he was poor conversation, it was better than the sheer overwhelming exhaustion that struck them later in their ride.

They eventually arrived in Istanbul proper, and fortunately the Sultan was still there. He let them stay long enough for them to rest up, and then invited them to talk. The Sultan provided them with laudanum- alcohol and opium mixed-, tea, and a special confection called, fittingly enough, Turkish delight.

"I suppose you are Russian diplomats, come to talk with me about the… Egyptian situation?"

The ambassador replied in the affirmative, murmuring "yes", before Schneizel responded.

"Well I am not Russian, but Britannian. My name is Schneizel el Britannia, ambassador to Russia from Britannia."

"And you speak for Britannia?"

"I do." Well, Schneizel may not be able to drive the country to war or anything like that, but he held sway and looked important, and a bit of saber rattling could help bring the Pasha to heel.

"That is… good to hear. Please, indulge in our hospitality. I am told your ride was hard. If you're worried about cholera, the laudanum helps fight the diarrhea." Of course, the Sultan didn't mention how addictive the substance was, although if he was somehow hoping to get Schneizel hooked, he could get all the opium a man would ever need from the East India Company.

"Thank you." Schneizel took a bit of delight, more out of a courtesy than anything else, and continued talking after a few moments of silence. "Do you know of the Pasha's whereabouts?"

The Sultan sighed. "As far as we know, he's resting at Ankara, and we're not sure if he will winter there or march to Istanbul."

Ankara. Good grief, that was more than halfway through Anatolia! Even by the most optimistic of estimates, the Russians wouldn't get down to Istanbul in time to reinforce the garrison, but they really didn't need to. The threat of a Russo-Turkish alliance could bring the Pasha to heel, although he was definitely in a position of strength.

"And what of your other lands? Can you pull reinforcements from your European holdings? What of Mespotamia?"

"Well..." The Sultan let out a long breath and sagged a little. "We're pulling what we can from the Balkans, but the disbanding of the Janissary corps has caused some military disorganization in the region. Not to mention the Barbary coast!"

Schneizel gulped. "The Barbary coast? Have they fallen in with the Egyptians?"

"No. They've remained neutral, for now at least. The real issue is your brother running around."

 _What?_ Schneizel schooled his expression and managed to keep his composure, but his mind was racing. What business did Lelouch have in the Maghreb? Well, Schneizel did have other brothers, but none of them would be remotely close to the area; unless his father sponsored an expedition for one of his other siblings? "I'm sorry, I have not heard of this before. News takes so long to get to St. Petersburg, after all."

"Your brother, the Sicilian-" That was a relief, at least. He didn't need to start contemplating what would happen if one of his other siblings started bumbling around in the Mediterranean. "-has been in conflict with the Barbary corsairs. He sunk a fleet off Tunis and set the docks of Tripoli alight."

Schneizel was silent, contemplating what could possibly drive Lelouch to attack the Barbary corsairs. The most obvious reason, evidenced by the fight with the fleet, was as a preemptive strike (or possibly a reprisal?) for piracy. "He hasn't taken any land, has he?"

The Sultan shook his head. "No. It seems like he was just interested in negotiating treaties, for an end to piracy against Britannian shipping and free trade for Britannia as well."

Here Lelouch went again, doing something that was good for Britannia, although extremely concerning on other levels. Going out to chastise pirates and negotiate treaties all by himself- that was a concerningly proactive and independent thing for Lelouch to do. It also showed that Lelouch was capable of projecting power across the Mediterranean- possibly all the way to Algiers, although the Sultan hadn't mentioned that one yet.

"I hope he hasn't managed to inconvenience you?"

"I suspect he's exploiting the Pasha's revolt to engage the pirates while I am incapable of interfering…" the Sultan shrugged. "I was never fond of the corsairs' dependence on piracy. I suspected it would get them into trouble one day, trouble that I might be dragged into. I'm not going to publicize it, but I'm glad for it." He smiled. "And if any of the Beys loose control thanks to your brother's intervention, I'll have reason to bring them to heel more permanently."

"I suppose that is dependent on stopping the Pasha, and we should probably ride for Ankara soon." Schneizel was not looking forward to that, and he could see the Russian ambassador flinching as well. It definitely wasn't Saint Petersburg to Istanbul, but… more riding to Ankara, and that meant more riding back to Saint Petersburg.

* * *

The _Italia_ followed the English coast fairly closely, just as they did while off France and Spain, although they didn't dock at any of the ports, and just rushed for London with haste, like they were trying to make up for their delays at Sicily.

Eventually they circled around Kent and began sailing up towards the Thames and London proper, threading the river as it got narrower and narrower. Things got slower sailing upriver, and Reuben almost wished they had one of those steam engines Lelouch was so fond of, but he supposed it let them showboat a little. They passed by little riverside towns on the way to London, and that was when they really started grabbing people's attention, the great iron flanks of the ship cutting through the muck of the Thames.

The city stunk just as much as it did the last time he had visited, complemented by a thick smog thanks to all the coal burned in factories. Many of the Italians in his crew were clearly uncomfortable: London was always a special experience, especially for the first time. The buildings were tall and packed close, and while Reuben never had the… pleasure of visiting the streets of London outside of the palace, he had heard rumors of how densely packed the people were.

They docked as near to the palace as they could possibly manage, and the royal residences were actually fairly close to the river Thames. The palace and the buildings around it formed a sprawling complex, and Ashford knew that they had many more splendid villas in the countryside, for those nobles and royals who found the stench of the common people too much to bear.

Despite the issues with London itself, the court was still centered there, and it remained one of the greatest centers of industry and commerce in the world. A perfect place to sell their goods, especially to the nobles that hung around the Imperial court. After some time spent negotiating and finagling, Ashford and his retinue eventually got their chance to present some of the goods to the Emperor himself; after all, what better way to sell to the nobles than convincing them to mimic the Emperor?

Charles was just as much of a presence as Ashford remembered, the metaphorical axle around which the spokes of the court turned. After Reuben and his party performed all the appropriate kowtowing, they approached the Emperor. "Your majesty."

"Lord Ashford. It has been many years since your last visit to the court. I have heard that you are associated with my son, Lelouch?" Of course, the Emperor knew full well how closely related the Ashfords were to Marianne and her offspring, and Ashford was here, in part, to encourage that association.

"Yes, your majesty. In fact, we come bearing gifts, the fruits of the conquest of Italy. Fine wines, none of that French swill, and beautiful glasswork from Venice herself." Of course, they had only brought the finest for the Emperor: vintages from good years and good orchards, and glass so intricate and well made it almost felt shameful to use them for eating. They had even gotten the glassworkers to make fine plates and cups decorated with the Britannian coat of arms, a beautiful lion and snake recreated in miniature, down to intricate detailing, tufts of golden fur and miniscule green scales. More classic coats of arms appeared as well- the harp of Ireland, the lions of England and Scotland, even the golden fleur-de-lises of France.

The Emperor accepted the gifts, but Ashford certainly wasn't expecting to somehow win the man over with baubles and drink. "We also bring news from Italy. Lelouch has launched an expedition against the pirates of the Barbary coast; he has already humbled Tripoli, Tunisia, and Algiers, and has likely brough Morocco to heel as well. Free trade and an end to piracy- no more corsairs menacing Britannian trade." Of course, this definitely wasn't a perfect record of what happened, but this trip was also intended to make sure that the first news the court heard about Lelouch's business was spun in his favor.

Ashford could hear murmuring spreading across the court as people reacted to the news that Lelouch was at it again. It wasn't quite the conquest of Italy, of course, but that was very hard to follow up. The Emperor himself remained as stoic as always, and Ashford couldn't begin to guess what the man was thinking. After a few moments of painful silence, the Emperor gave a nod of approval. "I am glad to see Lelouch remembers his station and continues to serve the Empire."

There wasn't a hint of gratitude in the man's voice, but other than occasional bouts of passion or choler, he was a difficult man to read. He may have been reciting court pleasantries, just to demonstrate that the crown appreciated services done for it, or he may have been genuinely proud, Ashford simply couldn't tell.

However, as the nobles of the court began to crowd around him, asking about the Italian wares he brought, he broke into a smile. His financial acumen was definitely greater than his ability to understand people's moods, even if the two were linked. Or perhaps the Emperor was just a special case.

* * *

Across the Atlantic, in the colonies, a collection of ships were under construction, which was not unusual by itself. Britannia needed many ships to run properly- it was, fundamentally, a naval empire after all- whether they were trade ships carrying cargoes from the Indies (both east and west), whalers in search of oil and ambergris, and of course, warships.

The ships being built were in the last category, frigates destined to fight against Britannia's enemies, but even as warships they were different from usual. Not just because they were frigates, ships designed for speed, but even then they were built different. A longer hull, deeper draft, and heavier guns than the average frigate, making it so it could outmatch any frigate in battle while being capable of fleeing from ships of the line which could potentially threaten it.

This unusual design was complemented by unusual materials, using southern live oak wood native to the crown colonies of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, along with more recent conquests like Florida and the Louisiane. Like the English yew trees which were processed into longbows during the Hundred Year's War, these trees had suddenly become a military concern, and the crown had taken an interest in them; preserving and replanting them for the purposes of war.

What made these oaks more valuable than usual was their density, and so dense were they that cannonballs would bounce right off the sides of ships made using them. Of course, Britannia could never give up such an incredible advantage, and as such a series of ships were commissioned making use of this property.

However, as close to completion as the ships were, they hadn't come up with names for them yet. The keel had long since been laid, planks put into place, tar and black paint applied, and even now the men were hammering on copper plating, to prevent wear, even though the live oak proved more resistant to that than most. Cannons were already being gathered, along with great, heavy rockets to make them as dangerous as ships could reasonably be.

The man in charge of the shipwrights working on the trio of ships was fond of old myths, of the ancient Celtic tales which still hung around in Britannian culture even if the pagan Gods had long since been replaced by the Anglican Church. When he looked upon those terrible ships, painted dark black, he couldn't help but think of an old Irish myth, the Morrigan. A goddess of war, of battle and death, who foretold doom in the form of a crow, and most notably, a goddess in three parts- Badb, Macha, and Anand… fitting names for a deadly trio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think of the other stuff in the Code Geass-verse? Oz, Akito, etc? I haven’t read any of them, I’ve only watched the show, but I’ve read fics with elements from said series. Of course, I would try to integrate those things smoothly and give context for show watchers if I did bring them in, but I’m not sure if I want to- the core of Code Geass is more than enough.
> 
> The cipher Lelouch developed here is called the Jefferson Disk- you can guess who invented the original in our timeline. It didn’t really take off until some French dude named Bazeries adopted it around the turn of the 20th century. Was how Lelouch invented it interesting? This sort of mental processing is fun to write.
> 
> Holy shit I love state building so much. I don’t know why sugar beets fascinate me, but they do for some reason. Next few chapters will focus on Italy, sibling relationships, and possibly the Turks. Fun stuff, I know.
> 
> The bit about the lion takes vague inspiration from the lions of Tsavo, who killed Indian workers on a British railway in Kenya. There’s a movie about them, The Ghost and the Darkness, which I haven’t seen. On the subject of historical movies, if you like the time period of my story, I implore you to watch Master and Commander. It’s great and really immerses you in the time period.
> 
> The three ships at the end are definitely inspired by Master and Commander’s Acheron, which itself takes cues from the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides”. This is about as close to Gloucesters as we’ll get.


	17. No Man Rules Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep on saying this, but it's because it's true: I am so grateful for all of you readers.
> 
> Also, there's a small, implied timeskip here, just long enough for the Stadtfelds to arrive in Italy. Cornelia and Lelouch have put off their conversations with their younger siblings for a bit.

They were in the Mediterranean, although it honestly didn't feel too different to the Atlantic they were sailing in previously. The ship was still swaying from side to side as it was rocked by the waves, and if the ship hadn't stopped in Gibraltar to resupply then she probably wouldn't have known the difference. Her father didn't let her wander the docks or anything of that sort, but she heard news through him.

The Viceroy of Italy had launched another expedition, this one against the lords of the North African coast. He didn't take land, but instead demanded an end to piracy in the region, which was a noble motive, she supposed. Her father was certainly building up a rosy picture of the man, and her stepmother was interested in what associating with him could do for their reputations. They seemed to be taking the entire trip in stride, and while Kallen certainly wasn't gawking or anything, she had to admit that they had seen some impressive sights- her actual mother was very impressed by the whole affair as well.

Afterwards, they docked in Sicily, where her father tried to get some information about the Viceroy's whereabouts. Apparently, he was staying in Venice instead of Rome, along with his younger sister. The Sicilian population seemed to like their Viceroy- they had spent the most time under his rule, after all- and their enthusiasm spread to her father. Kallen supposed the Viceroy truly could have won the hearts of the Italian people, but she suspected there was a crueler side to the man- you did not conquer a country through genteel diplomacy and a charming smile, at least not usually.

Her father had no interest in the Italian Parliament, which he thought of as something of a distraction more than anything. He was chasing Lelouch, the real power behind Italy- and as curious as this parliament sounded, Kallen couldn't deny the influence the prince had over his country.

They traveled up the Italian coast, around the heel of the Italian boot, and they hugged the land as they sailed north, passing by the mouth of the Po river as they traveled towards the city of Venice. It was something of a military frontier, she supposed- the border with the Danubians was at the Piave, which flowed into the Adriatic only a few miles east of the city. By the time their ship had reached the famed City of Canals, it was early November- more than enough time for the Viceroy to finish up his adventures, she hoped.

Venice was a bustling city, and they could all see clear signs that the Viceroy was here, or had been recently- those strange paddlewheel ships in the harbor couldn't have belonged to anyone else, after all. Her father was fascinated by the ships, and she had to admit that they were strange- warships were supposed to have big sides full of cannon, not one unusually big gun sitting on top of the decks. She had no idea how the ships worked, honestly, but it was clear that they did, considering that fact that shipwrights were repairing damage to the ships- that meant they were capable of sailing at least, and they may have sustained that damage in battle. 

She was a little alarmed when she saw smoke rising from a nearby island, but apparently it was due to fires for glassmaking, which the Viceroy was trying to encourage. Navigating the city was strange, but eventually they managed to find their way to the Doge's Palace, where the Viceroy lived in comfort.

They had to do a bit of waiting around because the Viceroy was apparently busy- whether on actual business or idling around, she wasn't sure- but at the least the guards let them in to avoid the chill outside. There was a strange bit of disparity between the guards- some of them were very traditionally Britannian both in appearance and dress, chests full of gleaming medals, but some of them weren't. Compared to the finery of those guards, the others were wearing relatively plain red shirts without any special ornamentation- only two of them seemed to have any medals, an Italian and Britannian with bright red hair. Speaking of, there was a mix of Italians and more traditionally Britannian looking men among the redshirted soldiers.

* * *

Lelouch and Cornelia had been worried about this lunch for a while- not due to the contents of the lunch of course, neither of them had anything against Italian cooking, but rather because they planned on having a discussion with their younger siblings about their roles in the Italian government. Nunnally had already had some experience with ruling in Lelouch's stead, but Cornelia hadn't really delegated any responsibilities to Euphemia before.

As they sat down for lunch, Lelouch couldn't help but notice that Nunnally was handling some paper; although instead of having Sayoko reading it to her she was feeling it with her finger- strange. Of course, Nunnally noticed him before he could get a look at the paper. "Hello big brother, big sister."

"Nunnally, Euphemia." Lelouch sat down as Sayoko brought out their food, which was admittedly rather plain: just polenta and sausage, but none of them really minded. Both Lelouch and Cornelia had gained an appreciation for more common foods while out in the field (it was certainly better than hardtack) and it appealed to his own sense of frugality as well. Plus, good company made the food better.

After a few minutes of silence as they ate, Cornelia spoke up. "Lelouch and I had a conversation while out on campaign, and we wanted to discuss a few things with you."

Euphemia giggled. "That's funny, Nunnally and I wanted to talk about something as well." Her expression grew surprisingly determined. "We're tired of sitting around at home while you two go off and risk your lives!"

Huh. Turns out that Nunnally and Euphemia wanted exactly what Lelouch and Cornelia planned on giving them. How convenient was that? Lelouch grinned. "Well, that was exactly what we wanted to talk to you about, actually. We figured that we should be giving you authority, treating you with the respect you deserve. Especially you, Nunnally. If anything were to happen to me, you'd be the most logical successor, and I should be treating you like it."

"Lelouch…"

"So, if I can ask, what do you have there? The paper, I mean." Nunnally brightened- well, more than usual- and held it up to reveal that it was covered in a bunch of dots. They were raised and covered the paper in dozens of neat, tidy rows.

"I received some mail from a school for the blind in Paris. A student there, a Mister Braille, sent a letter detailing a system of writing where you make these little bumps using a slate and stylus." Lelouch could recognize the value of such a technology in helping the blind- heck, you might be able to use a printing press for such a purpose.

Lelouch chuckled. "Was his letter written in this… Braille style?"

"No, Sayoko had to read it for me, but with a bit of work we adapted it to Italian instead of French. Euphemia's been helping too, reading documents or transcribing them so I can read them."

"Have you been showing Euphemia the ropes?"

Nunnally nodded. "Some budgeting, mainly. You're really cutting things close with the budget this year, aren't you?"

Cornelia sighed. "How much did you spend on this campaign, exactly? Admittedly, while I know my way around logistics, I've never had to deal with the budgeting aspect."

"I will remind that we are still in the black this year."

Euphemia quirked her head. "In the black?"

Lelouch chuckled. "Sorry, It's an accounting term. Positive values are written in black, negative values in red. So if your final number is red, you're in a bit of trouble."

"How expensive is war, exactly?"

Lelouch took a sip of water. "Very. Every ounce of provender must be bought or looted, weapons must be procured and the men must be salaried. Guns, shot, cannon… powder is tricky too."

"Why? Doesn't everyone use it?"

"Well that's just the problem, isn't it? Some of the ingredients are hard to come by. Sure, any man with an axe and a nearby forest could get charcoal, but saltpeter and sulfur… well, Sicily's volcanoes mean there's no shortage of sulfur. The third ingredient though..."

Cornelia spoke up. "India is one of the best places in the world to get the stuff. Company ships use it as ballast, but even then there's still not enough. The other methods to get saltpeter aren't… that savory." Her nose wrinkled.

"What's so bad about them?"

Lelouch laughed. "It's… not the sort of thing we should discuss over lunch, so to say."

"Oh."

"You can find some in caves too. On an unrelated budget note, we're going to be sending steam engines to some of the Barbary Lords… Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco. They might do some canning, we think?"

"Canning?"

"A Frenchmen discovered that cooking food in a sealed jars keeps it fresh, and it would certainly be better than hardtack on the march or at sea."

"How were the Beys… as people?"

Lelouch shrugged. "They all seemed fine enough. We had some issues with a few of them and had to fight off some pirates, but things turned out well."

Cornelia snorted. "Turned out well, he says. You threatened to shell Algiers and the Bey nearly hit you with a fly swatter!"

Nunnally and Euphemia both started giggling at that. "A fly swatter, really?"

"I assure you, I dodged it."

"They don't sound as regal as I expected…"

"They're men first and foremost, and I met them in bad circumstances. I wouldn't expect perfect decorum, considering they were staring down an enemy fleet."

Euphemia sighed. "There isn't a better way?"

"They sponsored piracy, Euphemia. They had made their peace with using violence for economic ends."

Nunnally and Euphemia were silent for a moment, before the former spoke up. "So, what do we plan on doing now?"

"Well, quite a few things, but in the short term I want to focus on public works and the economy, as broad as that is. I've put some money into it, but I think we could work on the rails, perhaps?"

"You have a lot of faith in Asplund, Lelouch." Cornelia said.

"He hasn't disappointed me so far. Rails are already used for cargoes- maybe one day we could travel the length of Italy by rail? It would be an enjoyable trip."

"But running a country is more than just numbers, isn't it? I mean, I can do my sums already, and I presume it's more than that." Euphemia chuckled.

"No man can run a state by himself- even our… venerable father depends on thousands of other people. I suppose if one boils it down, government is the matter of keeping those people with power below you happy with you."

"Father certainly likes to give the impression he rules alone… his word is law and all that."

"Am I not a Viceroy? I rule Italy in father's stead, don't I? Father can't be passing judgment for every crime committed in all of England, can he? If he had to personally send every thief to van Diemen's land, nothing would ever get done. The parliament does a lot of those things for me, admittedly."

Before any of his sisters could respond, they were interrupted by knocking at the door. Lelouch turned. "What's the matter?"

A soldier peaked in. "You have visitors, your highness. A noble and his family."

"Let them in in a few moments, would you?" Lelouch turned to Euphemia and Nunnally. "Well, keeping people under you happy would include the nobility, even if Italy doesn't have nobles like in the homeland. Let's see what they have to say, shall we?"

* * *

After some waiting, they were lead to the Viceroy, and Kallen was a little surprised to see that he was accompanied by three women- presumably his sisters. The Viceroy rose from his seat and greeted her father. "Lord Stadtfeld. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm flattered that you've traveled all this way to see me."

Her father's chest puffed up with pride, happy to be recognized, although Kallen suspected that Lelouch didn't know his family name off the top of his head and instead just had someone look it up- her father was proudly wearing his coat of arms, after all. "Your highness. We've heard so much about your exploits."

Lelouch chuckled. "I suppose you have- was it at Gibraltar?" He gave another one of his smiles, and admittedly he was charming and even fairly attractive, in a sort of effeminate, delicate way. The black hair, the purple eyes, the Italian features- Kallen hadn't seen anyone quite like him before.

"We heard news of your more recent exploits in North Africa as well as tales of your victories in Italy. Did you truly defeat one of Napoleon's marshals in battle?"

"Bernadotte? Yes. It was one of the only major battles I've participated in, near Siena, but if you really want to hear war stories, I'm sure my sister Cornelia would be happy to regale you." The woman with the purple hair- that was strange, although Kallen supposed she couldn't go throwing stones- chuckled, although Kallen couldn't help but notice the sword at her hip: a long, practical looking saber in a plain sheath. Lelouch himself was unarmed.

Her father scrambled to properly greet the Viceroy's siblings, and Lelouch introduced the three. Of course, Cornelia was the martial looking woman with purple hair, the gentle looking girl with the beautiful pink hair was named Euphemia, and the last girl, the one with brown hair and Italian features, was named Nunnally, and she was Lelouch's full blooded sister, and not just a half sibling. Kallen noticed that Nunnally hadn't so much as opened her eyes during the entire time- was she blind?

"So what brings you and your family to Italy, Lord Stadtfeld? I'm sorry to say that if you're looking for a role in the administration or even a fief, you'll be disappointed."

"It took quite a while for news of your conquest to reach Japan-" The Viceroy's eyes seemed to widen at that, "and I wanted to see if I could get into the Italian trade." Lelouch smiled broadly.

"You have experience with trade? Do you perhaps know a Lord Ashford? He's been a great help in establishing trade with the homeland. In fact, he's there now, selling glass and wine."

The Viceroy and Kallen's father descended into chattering about trade goods and tariffs- her stepmother was thoroughly uninterested, and Kallen had to agree with her on that front. Cornelia didn't seem interested, but Euphemia and Nunnally were paying rapt attention.

As their conversation drew to a close, her father perked up. "Oh, my apologies! I had a gift for you, your highness!" He pulled out a fine book and gave it to the Viceroy, who accepted it with a bit of a confusion.

"The Art of War? The gift is greatly appreciated, but if this is the work of Machiavelli, _Dell'arte della guerra_ , I already know it well."

Lord Stadtfeld chuckled. "What a coincidence! The title may be the same, but this a translation of a famed and ancient Chinese text, by a Master Sun."

"Interesting. Your gift is appreciated, Lord Stadtfeld. I hope your business fares well, and do look out for the cholera- boiling your water would help."

At least the Viceroy valued brevity, Kallen was honestly expecting this whole meeting to last a little longer, but Lelouch was an efficient man- or maybe he just wanted to be alone with his family without her father interfering. Kallen had to wonder what it was like, having siblings; technically, she did have an older brother, Naoto, but he died as a baby.

They were preparing to leave when one of the Viceroy's house servants came inside the room, carrying drinks. That wasn't the sort of thing that would normally be unusual, but Kallen could tell immediately that the woman was from Japan, and she spoke out to the woman, in Japanese. "Are you… Japanese?"

The maid's eyes widened in surprise. "Yes, I am. I was born and raised there before I moved here. Were you raised in Japan?"

"Yes, in Dejima." Kallen could feel everyone else in the room staring, but finding another Japanese person, in Italy of all places- what were the chances? It was probably a little rude to speak in Japanese when no one in the room could speak it other than her father, but she couldn't really bring herself to care.

"The Ashfords employed me at Dejima- I suppose that's not much of a coincidence, considering it's the only European port." Kallen was tempted to ask her more questions, but she could see the looks her father was sending her. Maybe staying in Venice wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

After the Stadtfeld family had left, presumably to find some more permanent lodgings to base their enterprises from, Nunnally turned to Sayoko. "Was that Japanese?"

"Yes. The young lady Stadtfeld was at the least raised in Japan, in Dejima to be more specific. And, if I may be honest, I suspect she's Japanese by blood as well."

"Curious. I suppose the young lady must be Lord Stadtfeld's heir?"

Euphemia smiled. "She's awfully pretty, isn't she?"

Lelouch shrugged. "I would suppose so. I'm too busy to be married, if that's what you're implying. Not to mention our father's policy on marriage." Lelouch stood up. "Plus, my one true love is paperwork, after all."

* * *

Having three extra pairs of hands did help with the paperwork, even if Nunnally required a bit of assistance from Sayoko. As amazing as something like standardized use of Braille's system would be, he had to admit that it would be a tremendous change for very little reward.

Nunnally looked up at him. "So… what about these letters you're getting from the Empire of the Danube, Lelouch?"

Lelouch chuckled. "I have… some friends across the border, you might say."

"Lelouch." Cornelia gave him a look.

He sighed. "I have some contacts in the region- Italian dissidents. Metternich asked me to crack down on those sorts of societies in Italy, but instead I just encouraged them to be less violent. Information from the inside would be a lot more useful to me than any short term chaos caused by rebellion."

"That's… pragmatic of you." Cornelia was currently reading through the reports as well. Lelouch had to admit she was the resident expert on this sort of large scale military operation. 

"The structure's already there. Better to exploit it than let it go to waste."

Nunnally turned to Lelouch. "Do you think there will be war with the Empire of the Danube?"

Lelouch sighed. "I suppose that either side would have a cause for war. I could probably claim land past the Piave, which is mostly Italian, and the Habsburgs still have a claim on lands like Lombardy, but I think they're content with that they have now."

"Still, their army is much bigger than ours, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but solving that will take time. The military is still one of our big expenses, and while we could afford to increase the army's size if we stopped paying the Danube their dues equipping more men would be an issue."

"Have you considered distributing rifles more widely?" Cornelia questioned.

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"If you can't form a larger professional army, then the least you could do is encourage militias or the like. Integrate it closely, of course, but make sure that the average Italian knows his way around a rifle. You could encourage sharpshooting, maybe?"

That was a pretty good idea, honestly. He had encouraged production of rifles in Sicily to make sure his initial Italian campaign was well supplied, and even then demand outpaced supply and he had to depend on muskets. Ramping up production to sell to the Italian people would definitely be a good idea.

Euphemia spoke up. "That idea might work with other things too. Militias are managed on a more local level, right? What if we encourage the same sort of… cooperation with other things?"

"Like…" Lelouch encouraged her.

"It would almost be something like a guild, maybe? Encourage, say, all the farmers in a region to get together and cooperate, not only so they can help each other, but also because it would make communicating with the farmers a lot easier."

"Something like the unions back in the homeland? If I remember correctly, trade unions are still illegal."

Euphemia grinned. "Lots of things are allowed in Italy that aren't allowed in Britannia, aren't they? It's like a militia, right? Wouldn't you want these sort of organizations connected to the government, if they have to exist?"

"That would definitely be a way to help the south."

"What's wrong with the south?"

"Nothing's wrong with it per se, but the Mezzogiorno is more rural, and I don't want it to fall behind."

Euphemia looked up with excitement. "Do you think we could visit, maybe? You know, show the people that their Viceroy cares enough to visit?"

Lelouch smiled. "I think that's a wonderful idea. We'd have to take some precautions, of course, but I'd love to show you Italy. Oh, and you and Cornelia might want to learn the language."

"You're not going to teach us?"

"It would be a pleasure to."

* * *

It took a bit more convincing to get Cornelia to agree to a trip down south, but Euphemia's enthusiasm was so obvious she couldn't refuse. Lelouch figured that if he was going to visit, they might as well make a trip of it, really get some work done.

Normally, if he wanted to get to Naples as fast as possible, Lelouch would use a boat to travel at least part of the way, but if they were going to do a tour he wanted to see more of the country, towns like Padua or Ravenna, maybe? The eastern coast of the Italian Peninsula may have been most famed for Venice, but it was dotted with a number of towns that were under his rule, with the exception of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. They weren't really a threat, but fostering good relations with the microstate couldn't hurt.

He supposed that for a trip like this, the best thing to use would be a carriage, and they would probably bring one along for Nunnally's sake, and in case the riding got too rough. Cornelia and Lelouch were more experienced riders who rode for long stretches during campaign, and Euphemia herself had some experience with riding as well. Even Nunnally had done a bit of riding before, although Lelouch would probably be fretting down the length of the country if she spent too much time outside of the carriage. They might be able to wrap it up with a trip to Rome- if his sisters were going to get involved in the government, they needed to see the parliament in action.

Of course, they were going to bring a great number of guards along, Jeremiah included, and Lelouch was grateful that most of Cornelia's men knew how to ride- unsurprisingly, Britannian peasants tended towards not knowing how to ride horses.

It was going to be a while before they departed, so Lelouch had a few more discussions with Lord Stadtfeld, who was looking into Italian goods, hoping to find something he make money off of. He was fascinated by the glassworks in the same way Lord Ashford was (not that Lelouch could blame him) and Lelouch hadn't given him a monopoly or anything, so Stadtfeld hoped to get in on the business, as well as exploiting recently opened North African markets.

* * *

By the time Schneizel had arrived, Ankara had long since fallen to the forces of the Pasha, who had apparently decided to winter at the city before making his way to Constantinople proper. His army had set up camp around the city, and it was certainly a sight. This confirmed it- there was no way the Sultan could push him back as things were. The soldiers looked competent and well drilled, and were clearly in high spirits as they waited to march on the Sultan.

Promises of Russian or Britannian support could definitely impact the Pasha's plans, but even then they couldn't stop him if he just decided to throw a coup- they would eventually stop him, but not immediately. Schneizel hoped to bribe him into submission- the revolt had originally started over the Levant, so giving him control of Greater Syria while still keeping him under Ottoman rule might work out. If he started demanding regime change or independence, things would be getting dicey.

Securing all of Egypt and Syria for himself and potentially his descendants would be no small feat, and hopefully Schneizel could spin it in a way that kept him happy with Britannia. The Sultan wasn't accompanying them for fairly obvious reasons, but they did bring along a few diplomats who would be acting in his stead.

The Pasha had taken residence in the city proper, and held court with a collection of officers and advisors that helped maintain his tremendous campaign. Schneizel and his companions were ushered in, under guard.

Funnily, the first thought Schneizel had when he looked at the Pasha was that he had a beard that put Emperor Charles to shame. The Pasha had a similar sort of air about him as well, and his subordinates clearly revered him.

The Pasha smiled. "Welcome. I suppose you must be representatives of the other powers?"

Schneizel nodded. "Yes. I am Schneizel el Britannia, Britannian ambassador to Russia, and my companions are representatives of the Sultan and the young Tsar's regent, respectively."

"A pleasure. Have you come to negotiate terms?" Schneizel was suddenly reminded of his younger brother Lelouch- the Pasha had the same sort of swagger that Lelouch had when he was confident in winning a chess match. Of course, that same heady confidence could be misplaced- Lelouch had never won against Schneizel after all- but Schneizel didn't know the Pasha the way he knew his brother.

"You started the war over Syria… is that all you want?"

"Greater Syria along with making my rule over the region hereditary." That was certainly a demand, but it was manageable. The Pasha knew when to stop, which was a fairly good sign, but that sort of long term planning and ambition… Schneizel didn't like it.

Well, Schneizel couldn't raise too much of a fuss without irritating the Pasha so he was probably going to have to agree just for the sake of the Suez. Of course, that didn't mean that they couldn't come back and sabotage the Pasha later- wouldn't want the man getting funny ideas.

* * *

Bonaparte received mail from the mainland once more, although it was also accompanied by a strange package, long and cylindrical. Unwrapping it revealed a sort of cylinder composed of a number of small, spinning disks which were marked with letters of the alphabet in random order. Idly, he noticed that each disk had a number on it, one through thirty, and they weren't sorted in numerical order. Curious, sure, but the best way to find out what the object's purpose was to read Lelouch's letter. He opened it up and…

LAKMVOLPD, SL JKIEZQ MNBZXCV YUNH…

He put the paper down, his brows furrowed in confusion. Okay, clearly something was up, and the letter was written in a code, a code that the writer believed he had the tools to crack. His first thought was that it was somehow related to the collection of disks he had been sent, which had letters on its side. He took a look at the length of the letter and then the thirty disks on the cylinder, this was probably going to take a while. He grabbed a pen and got to work.

_If you're reading this then you've used the disks to decrypt my message. This is a code system I hope to introduce in the future, and the key to it all is the order of the disks. As long as only you and I know the correct order to put these disks into, we can speak of more sensitive subjects with ease. You can mess around with the order of the disks if you please; although you must make sure that you know the proper order to put them in, but don't just leave it lying around either. In large part, this letter is devoted to making sure you have everything in order. I wouldn't want to put anything incriminating here, where the decryption tool is basically attached. Please respond- in code, of course._

Bonaparte chuckled and grabbed some paper. This was a curious system, and he did have to admit that it would be very useful, and it would be even more interesting if he had more people to write to.

* * *

The Alps were an incredible defensive asset- sure, they weren't impenetrable, but Lelouch wasn't going to let such a massive advantage pass him by. Mountains were naturally unwieldy, but that was something that you could work around.

While he probably wasn't going to start on these projects immediately, there were a lot of things you could do to adapt to mountains. Getting heavier artillery up there was a tremendous pain, which was both a blessing and a curse, considering that the enemy couldn't do the same. Rockets were easy to move around in the mountains, much easier than trying to haul a siege piece up a massive slope, but there were other solutions if rockets weren't your style.

In the rugged lands of Persia swivel guns, like those mounted on ships, were occasionally mounted on camels, presenting an intimidating combination of maneuvering ability and firepower. Of course, you weren't going to be knocking down fortresses with swivel guns, but it was something. Lelouch thought that was interesting- he may now have camels on hand, but he had other ideas.

Perhaps they could use a mule to carry something like a Coehorn mortar- a comparatively light piece that could still be used for sieges- in a cart, perhaps? The pieces could weigh less than 200 pounds- maybe they could move the mortars around on a mule's back? Of course, firing a mortar on an animal's back was a bad idea, but that sort of flexibility would be powerful, especially in the Alpine passes.

Artillery did not win battles alone, of course, and infantry would be key as well. Perhaps they could specially train some men (or just recruit them from villages and towns near the Alps) to work as Alpine soldiers… Alpini, possibly. Focusing on marksmanship would probably be a good idea as well, and they had rifles to spare for this sort of thing.

More long term, Lelouch wanted to equip the men with tools like shovels and hatchets, and they could make a factory for that sort of thing, but that probably wasn't going to happen in the short term. Lelouch had an interesting idea about what the army could do with lumber, something more than just defensive works…

* * *

Britannia, or at least its government, had a long fascination with military technology and making sure that they were as well armed as they could possibly be. They generated no shortage of military inventions on their own, but weren't afraid to… borrow from their enemies, in cases like Congreve rockets.

A prince from the region of Mysore had adopted rockets to fight the Britannians, and while he didn't succeed the rockets proved effective enough to be adopted. Of course, they weren't perfect weapons- they were very unwieldy, and even the smallest size looked more like a pike, the body of the rocket on top of a stick that was at least eight feet in length, if not longer for the larger rockets. The sticks were required to aim the rocket and keep it stable, and even then they weren't very accurate. In fact, the strange shape of the rockets was the reason behind their names- they bore a passing resemblance to a spindle you might use to spin thread, and the Italian word for "little spindle" was rocchetto. Of course, rockets were a little harder to manage than spindles were.

"Damn things are as wild as bucks."

"If only there was some way to make the things more accurate."

"Maybe all we need to do is spin them like bullets in a rifle."

"That… might just work."

Stabilizing a rocket without the guidestick would be incredible, and would make the largest rockets a lot more practical. The question was what to replace it with. They might be able to just it get spinning using the rocket's own fuel- have a bit of the exhaust go off to the side in a way that would send it into a spin. Or was it possible that some sort of specialized fletching at the end could achieve the same ends?

Of course, they knew that the Britannian government would be very interested in rockets that were more accurate than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discovering that Machiavelli wrote his own Art of War was wild- it's also written as a dialogue, weirdly enough. There was a 1770s translation of the Chinese one into French by a Jesuit, but it took longer for it to be translated into English, or at least for Wikipedia to note one.
> 
> I was considering using the word "sidelines" during the sibling's conversation… but it's a soccer term and rules weren't really codified for years our story. Clubs existed and the like, but no football association. Plus, would a royal know the terms of a sport like that?
> 
> The discussion of unions, other than addressing an issue that would get big in the future, was also inspired by this thing called the Grange. It's a very US history thing, basically a sort of fraternal organization for farmers. 
> 
> I'm not going to start talking about my personal politics here, but I think there's a lot to be said for letting people manage themselves, to cooperate together. Plus, Solidarity Forever is a bop. I hope to write a fic that will let me explore syndicalism one day, as if anyone would read that- or maybe I just need to bait everyone in before hitting them with them with the trade unions, like how I reeled you all in with Lelouch before smacking you with 1820s trivia.
> 
> About Nunnally riding horses- riding is an Paralympic sport, so there's that, and I suppose if the horse is guided there's not an issue with the blindness. Some blind people ride horses recreationally.


	18. A Journey's Beginning

Encryption was a delicate matter, and even with their new method of encoding messages there was still the glaring weakness of the key, which in their case was the order of the disks. Lelouch wasn't fool enough to use the same order for everything, and in fact he had a few set up for different purposes already. Of course, there was the one he used to communicate with Bonaparte (which now allowed them to discuss the sort of things that really shouldn't be intercepted) and he had gotten Bonaparte's letter back- in code, of course.

Lelouch planned to have a cipher for the military as well, possibly one that they changed semi-regularly. Of course, informing the officers and higher-ups in the military of said change risked a potential leak if the previous code was compromised. He supposed they would have to have some sort of prearranged codebook or the like, which did run the risk of being stolen, but if they didn't change the order they arranged the disks in fairly regularly, then everything would fall apart the moment even one of their disk sets was captured.

Maybe it was possible to make the code sheets impossible to understand without context? The average man would probably be pretty confused by a sheet of paper with a big grid of numbers on it, but at the same time they would know something was up: after all, someone made the effort to print it all out. Give the officers these sheets and then only give them verbal orders to change the order every week by going down the paper? Start with one row, use the next row the week after, etc. They could make it even more confusing by doing something like writing the numbers in reverse order or using columns instead of rows, in the Japanese style?

Cornelia had seemed interested with the encryption methods as well, which was a bit of a bad thing considering that there was a good chance that she would be his enemy if war ever broke out between Britannia and Italy. He supposed that he could take Cornelia hostage, but that would almost certainly mean bloodshed and fighting with her men- Lelouch certainly had numbers, but they were more valuable alive.

The best case scenario was that he could somehow convince her to fight for Italy, which almost certainly require a bit of framing- if Cornelia was going to abandon her country, it would most probably be for the sake of Euphemia, so as cold as it might sound, it was in his best interest to tie Euphemia closely to the Italian state. Euphemia was a sympathetic girl and she had been cooped up for much of her life, so hopefully she would become enamored with Italy once she had seen more of it. Some part of it may have been pride in his country- his in a rather literal sense.

His sisters did make ruling a little better, even if he could have managed his tasks alone. He appreciated other perspectives at the least, and he was sure that once she had learned to speak the language Euphemia would charm the people.

They were discussing some (admittedly) banal matter of state as Lelouch drafted his letter to Bonaparte- he wasn't going to write the letter line by line or something silly like that. He had the decrypted version of Bonaparte's letter as well- no use in pulling out the cylinder every time he wanted to double check. After a bit of silence, where the only sound was the scratching of his pen on paper, and Euphemia spoke up. "Who are you writing to, Lelouch?"

"Bonaparte- the younger one, of course. The Prince of Corsica." Nunnally and Euphemia didn't seem very surprised, but Cornelia eye's widened.

"Why write to Bonaparte?"

"He does rule Corsica, after all. He's no Emperor- at least not anymore, but he's less than ten miles off of Sardinia. Why not foster good relations with him? At least he's not Metternich."

Euphemia giggled. "What did he ever do to you, Lelouch?"

"I suppose it's more like what I did to his Europe. He's happy to take my money, but I don't think he'll ever forgive me for waltzing in and snatching Italy."

Cornelia huffed. "Why pay him? Especially with backing from our father, you could afford to not kowtow to the Habsburgs."

Admittedly, Lelouch's main reason for paying was to build up goodwill with the Danube in case of a war for independence, but there were other reasons. "With good management, we could make back that money with trade- not something we could do if they sanctioned us. Plus, we can never predict what the future has in store. Better to pay the man off than risk the Royal-Imperial army swarming over the Piave before reinforcements get close."

"A fair point… but Bonaparte-" her nose crinkled, "-why him? His father…"

"Well, we're more than our parents, aren't we? I'd like to say Bonaparte and I are… friends. Maybe that's a strong word, but… neither of us have many other people to talk with."

Euphemia frowned. "That poor man- all alone on that island." She reached for some ink and paper. "Can I try using the code disk thing, Lelouch?"

"It's not really that hard, honestly. The real power behind the encryption is the order the disks are organized in… It isn't right to say he's completely alone, but I can't imagine that he's made many friends."

"Wait- is it appropriate to say he's a man? How old is he?"

"Fifteen or sixteen? Not sure about the exact dates, but he seemed a bit younger than me, but older than Nunnally."

Euphemia inhaled. "But wasn't he commanding armies a year ago?"

"I think it would be rather hypocritical of us to judge Bonaparte for that."

* * *

It had been more than year since the dissolution of the French Empire and the return of many of its territories to their previous owners. Some states, like the Swiss and the Dutch found themselves in a strange position of having to redefine themselves.

For the Swiss, the Helvetic Republic the French installed meant that there was a central authority that ruled over previously autonomous cantons, but after the French Empire had been dismantled they began to restore to a more traditional Confederacy, where local democracy flourished.

The Low Countries found themselves in a stranger position, especially considering their temporary integration into the French state, and there was something of an interregnum that followed the peace. The Estates general had been bickering for more than year at this point, and unrest had grown to a fever pitch.

Among the Walloons and Flemings, there was tremendous discomfort about a potential Protestant overlord, along with general disarray both political and economic. In addition, there was the issue of their colonies- or rather, the Britannian colonies, because that was what they were now. The Dutch state had long been a trading power with colonies dotted across the world, and now all of those were gone, which certainly wasn't a great thing economically.

Add to that the economic stresses of having to cut off trade with the greatest European economic power- or perhaps the greatest economic power on the planet- without even receiving financial aid, and one of the greatest economic systems on the planet was crushed under the weight of the Continental System.

As winter continued and the Low Countries worked their way towards two entire years of interregnum, the future seemed uncertain- but wasn't that how it always was?

* * *

It could be said that the sort of republicanism the French revolution encouraged was different from previous forms of republicanism in Europe. Of course, there were republics before the French, with famed examples like Genoa and Venice, the merchant republics of the Italian peninsula.

In the Holy Roman Empire, larger towns could become free imperial cities, which while they were under rule of the Emperor, they had autonomy and many developed republican governments. City states held power in medieval Italy, in places like Florence and Pisa, and on the coasts of northern Germany the Hanseatic League was composed of mercantile city states.

However, these republics were evidently of a different breed when compared to what the French pushed for- the common man who wasn't a patrician or in a guild still didn't have much sway in his government, and you could certainly call these republics oligarchic.

One such state was born from the rigors of the French Revolution, on a smattering on islands in the Ionian sea, and it was known as the Septinsular Republic. The isles were seized from French control after they had been seized from Venice, and the island's "liberators" were Ottoman and Russian forces. Afterwards, a republic was installed- a republic mostly managed by local nobility and not the common man, but a republic nevertheless. The nobility were very much torn between several masters- Russians, Turks, or in some cases, Britannians.

The islands were surprisingly pro-Britannian, but considering that the only Britannian representative at the Peace of Versailles was focused on defending his Italian holdings and not reaching for more, the republic found itself as an Ottoman protectorate.

And what a state it was. The isles were majority Greek, as one might expect, but before the French had taken them over they were under the rule of the merchant princes of Venice. The urban elite spoke Venetian- and it could be argued if Venetian was a dialect of Italian or something of its own- although the importance of the Hellenic tongue was recognized in the constitution- because yes, there were states other than Italy with a constitution in the Mediterranean.

They had stayed loyal to their Ottoman overlords as the Greek state fought for independence, and while there was a bit of unrest, the upper class kept things under control, even as the Italian Prince fought his way up and down the peninsula and the last of the Greeks were pushed back to defeat in the woods and hills of Arcadia.

There was certainly a bit of curiosity about Lelouch vi Britannia. He was an Italian, which won him some approval from the Venetian upper class, and he had ties with Britannia… after some time they decided that it would be good to talk with the Viceroy of Italy. He had a few revolutionary tendencies, but he was in charge of the largest Britannian settlement in the Mediterranean, which made him an extremely important man, especially for the continued well being of the Republic.

So, they sent an upper class Corfiot (meaning, from the isle of Corfu) Italian to talk with that strange prince of Italy and see if they could reach an amicable agreement. In all honesty, the Corfiot Italians were very much the last of a dying breed- the people under them increasingly thought of themselves as Greeks, part of a greater Greek identity, and no one quite knew about the Viceroy's position on Greece. Even among this small group, their representative was a strange one- unusually liberal for a noble, but of good breeding and education, so he was sent off. Admittedly, there were not too many volunteers.

* * *

Lelouch had occasionally considered matters of succession- he was just a man after all, and unless he tremendously bungled things Italy would hopefully outlive him. In complete honesty, he wasn't very interested in marriage at all, but his obligations to the Italian state meant that he needed to do things that he wouldn't necessarily enjoy.

Even if Lelouch was a Catholic, he and Nunnally were still potential claimants to the Britannian throne, and that would inevitably lead to trouble. Hopefully they would manage to weather the storm of his father's passing, and Lelouch could quietly ask whatever sibling had won the bloodbath for permission to marry someone far away from Britannian politics. He supposed he could push for making his station as Viceroy hereditary, considering the special state of Italy, and he wasn't too far from Britannia proper- his support could make him a kingmaker and allow him to demand hereditary rule over Italy in exchange for his support, but there was a lot of potential risk in a path like that.

Complete separation from Britannia wouldn't guarantee a clean break from their dynastic politics either. Until he or the last of his descendants breathed their last, Italy would forever be the home of a pretender to the throne (or perhaps The Pretender if Britannia really laid it on thick), and if his line ever did come to an end Britannia could start sticking their nose into Italian politics. Italy and Britannia would be stuck in a very rocky relationship, and even the end of his not yet existent line could cause trouble: an interregnum could invite all of the great conservative powers of Europe to get involved. Of course, this was all assuming there wouldn't be some sort of major paradigm shift in European politics between now and then- it had happened with the French Revolution, after all.

A potential war with Britannia was another reason to keep a ring off of his finger- he would prefer to marry Italian just for optical reasons, but if Italy became independent he would be a very eligible bachelor, and might be able to marry his way into some sort of non aggression pact, if not a full fledged alliance. He supposed that Nunnally could be married off too, but Lelouch would rather die than make that sort of choice for her. Lelouch probably wasn't getting the sort of loving romance once found in storybooks, but if that was what Nunnally wanted out of life, he would do his best to give it to her.

He wasn't entirely sure about Euphemia and Cornelia, but he could barely imagine the latter marrying at all, much less to some old fashioned noble who would try to force her into the home. Lelouch personally couldn't tolerate the idea marrying some foolish, blushing ingenue- his potential spouse should share some of his ideals at least. They would need to do more than just sit around and spend money. He wanted to show the Italian people their royal family cared- if his potential dynasty was to survive, they would need to serve the people and not just be indolent wastes of space.

Some part of him wondered how many of the great kings and emperors of Europe would survive into the future- for now, the autocrat reigned, but Lelouch suspected that the French Revolution was the beginning of a massive change in European politics. They would need to adapt to changing times, or die out as so many dynasties had before them- and Lelouch was determined to keep himself and his sisters from being mentioned in the same breath as Louis XVI.

* * *

Their trip would follow the east coast of Italy, and after stopping in Salento (the heel of the Italian boot, so to speak) they would ride to the Straits of Messina for a quick crossing. Lelouch felt a little bad about neglecting Sicily- it was where he was born and raised after all- and he wanted to keep an eye on it. Plus, Euphemia was more than a little curious about where Nunnally and Lelouch grew up, and while Cornelia didn't make a big deal of it Lelouch suspected that she wanted to pay respects to Empress Marianne.

After Sicily they would stop by Naples on their way to Rome and the Italian parliament. It wouldn't be the fastest trip either- if they wanted to check on the state of the farmers, that did require actually stopping and talking with them. Serving the people (and creating a stronger economy through that) did require actually having an understanding of the people's interests.

If conflict didn't break out in the coming years, he could start pouring money, including the eventual profits of Lord Ashford's expeditions, into projects that would help the people. Railroads for cargo perhaps, or canals and turnpikes to help move freight? As mundane as it sounded, Lelouch was considering a shovel factory just to supply his soldiers with. Big shovels would be a pain to carry (which would probably mean the soldiers just wouldn't) so perhaps they could look into some sort of folding design? Something like a mattock could work for it too, which would be a tidy mix of digging and chopping.

Looking into education would probably be good to- he had sent a letter to the Pope discussing Sunday schools, but he had been too caught up with other things to really investigate how that panned out. Industrialization would only be bolstered by an intelligent population- Lloyd was undoubtedly brilliant, but he wanted to wean the country off of foreign experts. A trade fleet might be another useful investment, especially if Ashford's expedition proved to be a success- more iron ships might be in order.

He also made sure to check up on Lloyd, who was admittedly an important part of the Italian budget- he had sent his letter some time ago, but he found that it was best to let the man be for a while. He was a little eccentric, certainly, but he could be incredibly determined when some striking idea caught his fancy.

Lloyd's current base of operations was on the shores of the Venetian lagoon for the same reason that the glass making quarter of Murano was isolated from Venice proper- to prevent fires or accidents from causing trouble- and it had grown into quite an affair. He wasn't very discriminatory about who worked for him, but it took a certain sort of man to work for him for any length of time: Lloyd could be incredibly exacting about things, and misunderstanding his instructions (which were always in rapidfire English, never Italian) would send the man into fits. That did mean that a lot of his aides had to have considerable knowledge of English, but Lloyd still produced amazing things, even if he did need a translator to explain it all.

When Lelouch met the man again, he was busy with something of a prototype- a ship that wasn't much larger than the average dinghy, although a significant portion of its desk space was taken up by a steam engine. It seemed like they had done some testing already and the propeller had not proven satisfactory- he could see the water still on the hull, and Lloyd struggling with a gleaming metal helix. It seemed like they had pulled the boat out of the water with draft horses- Lelouch could see some Italian workers handling panting horses, their dark coats heaving with every breath.

It seemed like just about everyone else had noticed Lelouch before Lloyd had: Cecile was apologizing for Lloyd's casual nonchalance while the workers talked among themselves. Deciding not to interrupt Lloyd while he was invested in one of his passion projects, Lelouch approached one of the men tending the horses.

"What a horse- how many big is it? Some seventeen hands?" It was quite the horse, with its shoulders nearly reaching Lelouch's height.

The groom seemed a little shocked to see Lelouch, and stumbled over his words. "Ah- your majesty!" He gave a clumsy bow. "You've got good eyes, your majesty. She's almost exactly seventeen hands at the shoulders."

"Tell me, how is she? I've had some experience with riding."

"Just about the most gentle horse you'll lay eyes upon, your majesty." Of course, that didn't guarantee anything: quite a few notable figures in history died thanks to horse accidents- in fact, one of his own esteemed ancestors, William the Conqueror, may have died thanks to a pommel injury when he fell off his mount. Horses were powerful creatures- Lelouch respected the power of the steam engine, but that didn't make a horse any less capable of crippling you in moments- and a horse was a lot more mercurial than any engine would ever be.

However, even the gentlest horse would probably be spooked by someone like Lord Asplund- he jumped to his feet with remarkable agility and greeted Lelouch. "Your highness! Come to see our progress?"

"Indeed. Is the propeller promising?"

"Very much so. I'm working on some designs for larger ships using the screw-"

"You're that confident?"

"Of course. Verily, I believe that in time the propeller will triumph over the paddle wheel- it's just so much more efficient."

"Interesting. Unfortunately we're a bit tight on funding this year-" He could see Lloyd's face sagging in disappointment. "-and while I would like to see those designs of yours, could I get you to focus on the railways for a bit?"

Lelouch could always use more of those- they had some cargo use, but he hoped to one day see rail lines from the Po river in the north to the toe of the boot in Calabria, for cargo and possibly for human transport. It would help the economy, of course, but faster travel would hopefully cement a larger Italian identity by causing intermingling between the people. Pushing for a more standard Italian language would help in when it came to administration, but wouldn't be too good for the countless dialects across the country.

He had some experience with this himself. Lelouch had a bit of an Sicilian lilt, and he had some trouble absorbing Italian papers when he first started reading them thanks to being born and raised Sicilian. He knew English as well, of course, and picked up a few hints of other languages- just enough French to struggle through their newspapers and see if Napoleon still lived and breathed. The country was dotted with dialects, and recording them all would certainly be a historical curiosity, although an impractical way of spending government funds.

Railroads would also have a logistics benefit in case war ever broke out- getting to the battlefield first would be a remarkable advantage, as would moving larger guns around. Of course, some of these things could be accomplished with horses… but horses tired and steam engines did not. Your steamboat or train wasn't going to fall ill, either. At the same time, one couldn't conduct a cavalry charge or move guns around the battlefield with a steam engine.

* * *

Muhammad Ali Pasha wasn't under the delusion that he was liked by many of the great European powers, but at the very least he was an autocratic rabble rouser instead of a republican one. However, he was satsified with what he had for now-Egypt, the Sudan, and the Levant combined made a fine domain indeed- and he wanted to focus on securing his gains and strengthening what he already had.

Britannia's massive textile industries were buying up Egyptian cotton as fast as it could be grown, and he could only see demand increasing as the secrets of industrialization spread across Europe. It was something he had invested in as well- he would not be left behind by history.

Of course, he knew that one of his biggest assets was a strip of flat desert a bit short of 80 miles long- the isthmus of Suez, the relatively narrow strip of land separating the Mediterranean from the Red Sea. For now, they were limited to moving cargo across overland (unless he installed some trains and rail lines), but the greatest possible benefit would come from a canal. Being able to trade with India without having to sail all the way around Africa would be a tremendous advantage- but Britannia jealously guarded the jewel in her imperial crown, and they would not like the idea of other European sovereigns having easier access.

He had heard of the great systems of canals in Britannia proper, for moving tremendous amounts of freight much more efficiently than a cart drawn by horses ever could. It was just so much cheaper to move things by water- while the Pasha hadn't heard much news about Britannian holdings in the New World, he had heard rumors that it was cheaper to sail cargoes downriver and around most of the eastern coast of America than going overland.

When the French made their way to Egypt in an attempt to cut Britannia off from her holdings in India, they had done some surveying, and reported a massive height difference between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, which would require all sorts of complicated locks to move ships up and down. However, the Pasha had his own suspicions about those measures- perhaps they were off because of the newfangled metric system the French were using at the time, or simply thanks to an error made in the chaos of an active military campaign- but his own surveys produced different results. Potentially lucrative results.

A canal that long could not be built overnight, of course, but it would make a princely legacy to pass onto his sons- if he could keep European hands far away from it. It would need to be fairly deep as well, especially if they planned on moving large scale ships through there- military ships of the line and mercantile East Indiamen where very different from shallow barges mostly in the depths of their drafts, the part of the ship that was underwater.

Other than the very obvious financial benefits for the town of Suez, which lay on the southern part of the isthmus, it would revolutionize shipping. It would make accessing India and Asia for the European powers, and such a massive improvement in trade would mean a king's ransom in tolls in what could become one of the richest trade routes in the entire world, practically the silk road reborn. Digging it would be no small feat- an 80 mile stretch, nearly 30 feet deep and several times as wide, dug by hand- it would take years and would be practically impossible to keep secret, which would almost certainly evoke Britannia's wrath.

Even without the Suez, his country was in very good shape, with his new holdings in the Levant complementing Egypt and the Sudan. His son, Ibrahim, had even established a new city far up the Nile, called Khartoum, and it had grown from a army station to a trade entrepot, which funneled all the riches (and slaves) of the Sudan downriver. To the east, the Blue Nile stretched down to the land of the Ethiops- where the Emperor of House Solomon ruled as a figurehead- and to the west the While Nile flowed from a massive inland lake.

All those resources could be processed in factories near the mouth of the Nile or simply sold in European markets. The Levant was a happy addition to his holdings, although he knew that the Sultan probably wished for the return of Al-Quds- or as the Europeans might call it, Jerusalem- and the cities of Syria like Damascus and Aleppo, which were key steps in the Hajj. Admittedly, the Janissary situation was a spectacular opportunity, but he needed to shore up his defenses because his suzerain would almost certainly return with a modern military. Plus, he wanted to keep his eyes on Tripoli- going in to "keep the peace" would be a fine opportunity to arrange for someone more agreeable to rule the region of Libya.

* * *

Kallen was of the opinion that Italy was a very strange country. Of course, considering that she was raised in Japan, much of Europe was strange. If her father's business turned out well, Italy could become her home for the future, and in the short term that meant a lot of learning Italian.

Her father was busy getting an idea of the Italian markets while her stepmother stifled under the relative lack of a social scene- or at least one she wouldn't see as below her. At the very least, she could give the Italians credit for being a refreshing change of pace- they were, in a strange way, proud of their government and their institutions.

The entire system was rather curious- of course, she couldn't participate because she was a woman- but voting for your government seemed interesting. She supposed that her view of republicanism was different from how her father viewed it- the French Revolution left a tremendous mark on Britannia's cultural memory, and she had learned about it mostly secondhand. Yes, Napoleon still lived and breathed for the majority of her life, but France was as alien as the moon for her.

Not to say things had really changed; instead of being an outcast in Japan and Dejima, she was an outcast in Venice. The Viceroy seemed accepting: he had made deals with those Barbary lords, had a Japanese maid, and he had apparently pushed for universal suffrage in the Italian Senate- truly universal suffrage, for women and not just men. Unsurprisingly, this idea really didn't get off the ground thanks to the Senate, but it meant that Lelouch was either genuinely liberal, he was very good at using such movements for his own gain, or some mix of both.

Understandably, the Viceroy didn't let them stay in the Doge's Palace, but her father did find fine accommodations in the city. The canals were a curiosity, she supposed, and the gondolas were striking, but her father was more interested in the city's merchandise than its people. It was a nice place to live thanks to what funds her father brought with him, although she was curious about their potential enemies across that nearby river- the Piave?

She did have to admit that her father's visits to the Viceroy's palace to discuss economic minutia were made a lot better thanks to Sayoko- her duties as a maid did make conversations a little awkward, but considering how long Lord Stadtfeld spent talking with Lelouch, Kallen and Sayoko managed to get a lot of talking done.

The older woman's respect for Lelouch was obvious, and Kallen wasn't entirely sure what to feel; the parallels between Sayoko and herself were fairly obvious (Sayoko had even left Japan at a similar age to Kallen) but Sayoko had gone on to define herself so completely as a caretaker for Lelouch and Nunnally. It felt almost anticlimactic to Kallen- she had traveled so far and seen so much, just to be satisfied with the role of maidservant? Kallen couldn't imagine doing something like that, devoting your life to someone- or maybe it was something like Kallen's mother, a sort of… parental urge? The princess was a decade Sayoko's junior, after all…

Parenthood wasn't something Kallen particularly liked contemplating, considering the fact that she was expected to carry on the Stadtfeld name disregarding a miraculous pregnancy on her stepmother's part. She did have to admit that the title of Lady Stadtfeld was, in some ways, liberating: until she had children (if she ever did), people would be obligated to treat her with respect, and even now she was heir presumptive.

* * *

The rolling fields of the Italian countryside were dusted by a gentle layer of snow when they set out from Venice, heading straight west for the city of Padua. He had stopped by the city on his first mad dash to Venice, but this time he wasn't dashing through with all the urgency of a military campaign.

They had a carriage, but they were largely riding on their horses, with Euphemia and Nunnally riding sidesaddle while Cornelia and Lelouch rode astride the horses- Cornelia was not the sort of woman to wear large skirts after all. All the fresh air was certainly nice, and it was clear his sisters enjoyed it, but some part of him felt… uncomfortable.

Perhaps that sort of instinctual dislike for open spaces should be saved for the battlefield; he remembered Bernadotte's death in battle and wondered: would he have lived through the battle if he chosen to be a bit more subtle? Of course, being in command always meant running some risks, but getting killed unexpectedly by a rifle was a different beast entirely compared to dying due to your own mistakes in battle. It would make a very effective tactic, he did have to admit, but if they were going to start shooting for officers it was only fitting to expect a response in kind, and Lelouch liked his head in one piece.

Sharpshooters would be a major risk, especially considering the fact they were already lacking in officers- he supposed that measures could be taken to make targets less obvious. No saluting or exceedingly flashy uniforms, but the presence of a horse would probably be a giveaway anyways. It would probably be tremendously unhealthy to view every ridge and tree as hiding a potential threat to your life, but once you were deep in enemy territory… well, is it paranoia if they're really out to get you?

He supposed that wouldn't be as big of an issue in a potential war with Britannia as long as none of the other continental powers joined in. If Britannia managed to slip an army past their naval defenses and land on Italy, he would have much bigger issues than a potential sharpshooter, but assassination was also a potential risk. That was something else to get paranoid about- much of the handling of their food was handled by Sayoko, so poisoning wasn't a huge threat, but there were quite a few ways to get assassinated.

Napoleon (the original) had nearly been killed by explosives while on the way to the opera, not to mention the risks of a good old fashioned stabbing or shooting. Jeremiah's watchful eyes were helpful for this, but there was a lot of danger in broadcasting your movements- if people knew where you would be at a certain time in the future, they could plan around that.

The Gunpowder Treason was one example: the assassins knew where King James I was going to be- presiding over ceremonies in Parliament, back when they still had one of those- and if they had planned a little better, they might have managed it. Lelouch certainly hoped he hadn't provoked levels of unrest quite like that- he had converted after all- but of course, the entire point of assassinations was that your victim didn't know at all, or at least until it was far too late.

For rather obvious reasons, Lelouch found the idea of ordering an assassination… unpalatable. He certainly wouldn't be were he was today without his mother's death, and that entire incident had installed a frankly unhealthy amount of paranoia. Lelouch could admit quite easily that he wasn't the most well adjusted of people, considering how he basically had his childhood snatched away from him by an assassin's bullet.

There was also the question of who killed his mother. Learning the specifics behind it would be… satisfying in a way, but it didn't make his mother any less dead and anyone who managed to get away with it wasn't the sort of person he could easily inflict his vengeance onto. Learning who was behind his mother's death would only cause him trouble now, so whatever satisfaction he would derive from solving that mystery wasn't worth risking the fury of someone who could carry out an assassination in the throbbing heart of the Empire.

Sicily, while not quite as far flung as Australia, was still out of the way- before he took Italy it was a backwater more useful as a naval base and citrus farm than anything else. That kept him happily out of the way of whoever killed his mother- if that person even wanted him dead. Sure, it was possible the murder was due to some grudge about his mother's common origins, but if they wanted Nunnally and Lelouch dead, they would have managed to pull it off. So all that left him with was the fact that there was a mysterious schemer in the royal court with enough sway to kill a favored consort, but who apparently decided killing her childrens was beyond the pale.

He was out of the way from court politics, which he was happy about. Perhaps that meant that he would never reach a conclusion about who murdered his mother, but getting passionate about that was dangerous. For now, he would keep his eyes open for potential threats- and plan for the day he could finally cut ties with that wretched empire once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wikipedia page of the day: List of horse accidents
> 
> The idea of a matrilineal marriage, like in the Crusader Kings games, doesn't really exist, but if someone important like Kallen married some noble of lesser importance, they might stress the Stadtfeld name. If your mom's got the cool title, you'll focus on being descended from your mom over your dad, right? Or I suppose you could pull a Habsburg-Lorraine thing and stick two houses together.
> 
> A chapter without an author's note at the beginning? What am I, crazy? As always, I appreciate all of you for reading this. Be sure to tell me what you guys think. Sorry if things seem a little action light, but you all know what we're building towards, yeah?


	19. Unity Makes Strength

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is a bit of spoiler… if you know where it comes from.
> 
> Also, sorry for the wait on this one. Calculus III feels bad man. I hope it was worth the wait and you'll enjoy it. The sheer happiness I get knowing other people enjoy my work- it's unbelievable. Anyways, on with the show.

Lord Ashford had made a handsome profit selling off Italian wine and glass, more than recouping his cost, thanks to a general interest in all things Italian. It reminded Ashford of when he was a young man- back before the French Revolution, when it was fashionable for young nobles to travel Europe to grow more "cultured", and how they brought back a number of strange cultural artifacts from the continent: fashion and quite notably, cuisine. In particular, there was a fascination with macaroni- Italian pasta- and while Ashford never quite understood the hype, it seemed that it was once again in fashion to be interested in Italy.

However, his merchant instincts kept him from just leaving the homeland with empty holds- it wouldn't be efficient. So of course he filled the holds of the _Italia_ with Britannian manufactured goods. Britannia was a tremendous exporter of manufactured goods, processed in some of the first factories in the world and sent back out to foreign markets. Timber, cotton, wool, and many other goods poured in, and textiles in particular flowed out of the homeland by the boatload, quite literally. These products were sailed back to eager buyers in the colonies, and to other countries around the world.

Industrialization was very much an economic weapon, and in some cases Britannia could provide goods at lower prices than local producers, meaning that her very existence could cause all sorts of fascinating economic problems for other countries, but that wasn't to say that Britannia succeeded in every market it set foot in.

Silver poured into the Empire of China in the east, to feed Britannia's insatiable desire for tea, and even the famed silver town of Guanajuato in Mexico could not fully satisfy that endless demand. Their control over other regions of the country was questionable at best, but for rather obvious reasons the town and the overland route to it were some of the most secure territory in the empire.

Most of that silver didn't even see England's shores anymore- it went straight from the coasts of Mexico over the Pacific, following the routes of the old Spanish Manila galleons which sailed between the coasts of Mexico and Philippines. Britannia was starting to make up this trade deficit by pouring Indian opium into China, but the Chinese were understandably unhappy with Britannia getting their population addicted to drugs.

However, there would be nothing suspect at all about a continuing trade route between Italy and Britannia- the home country did a lot of trade with her overseas colonies after all- and the profits seemed good. He would definitely make a profit there, while it lasted. Perhaps Italy would in time become an integral part of the Empire, a loyal and productive colony… but Ashford doubted it.

The overseas colonies seemed to have been brought to heel and while they might stay that way (at least in more culturally Britannian portions like Canada or the Thirteen Colonies) Italy seemed like a different beast. It was a country simmering with nationalism, which had worked for Britannia when Lelouch made his conquest, but now it would only be a hindrance.

Ashford had suspicions about what Lelouch wanted, about his ambitions, and while he couldn't claim to have a perfect understanding of the prince's mind, he could make better guesses than most. If Lelouch stayed loyal to Britannia, he would be a fair-weather friend at best, and Ashford just couldn't see the boy making a bid to the throne. Italy was where Lelouch would make his stand, for better or for worse.

Of course, this meant that continued association with Lelouch might lead to some very unfortunate consequences for him in the future. Ashford certainly wouldn't be joining a loosing war, but he knew Lelouch- if Marianne's boy let a war start that he could have prevented, he would be confident that he would come out of it the victor. If it came down to it, Ashford would throw his lot behind Lelouch- he probably wouldn't be getting any land or titles out of it considering the way Italy was leaning, but he was confident in his skills as merchant.

Any number of events could give Lelouch the excuse he needed to break relations with Britannia. The most obvious would be the passing of his father, but as far as Ashford knew the Emperor had showed no signs of failing health- he wasn't getting his wives pregnant nearly as often now, but he was about as healthy as a man could be at his age.

Speaking of the emperor's many children, one of his younger daughters had been singled out to marry the Tsar of All the Russias, Alexander II. Of course, it was to be a few years until that marriage was anything more than just a betrothal, and a lot of things could change in such a length of time, but it would definitely serve to cool tensions in Asia.

There was a low sense of unrest among the imperial court; even if the Emperor was in perfect health, he was an aging man, and all the various political players were keeping their eyes on the situation. The Emperor had prevented any of his children from marrying, and it seemed like a very deliberate move to keep nobility hoping to jockey their way into a position of influence over the Imperial Crown through marriage. Of course, all bets were off once Charles passed and the Emperor seemed content to take his sweet time contemplating which of his children deserved the crown- his endorsement could seriously sway whatever happened after his death.

There were a few obvious disqualifications- children sent to exceedingly remote Viceregal positions that weren't even prestigious (the North Western Territory in North America came to mind), and unless Charles decided to bend the laws of the land, Lelouch's decision to swim the Tiber, so to speak, meant that he couldn't take the throne, not to mention all the unrest a Catholic Emperor would cause among majority Protestant nobility.

Still, Schneizel and Lelouch had won themselves quite some renown for themselves: the former for his able dealings with the previous Tsar and arranging an advantageous marriage, the latter for his romantic seizure of Italy. Schneizel was a clear favorite, and had pushed the Emperor's firstborn son to the side rather easily (especially considering the fact that Odysseus' residence in the Portuguese court would be permanent).

However, as prestigious a station Saint Petersburg might be, it was far away from the capital, and meant he couldn't maintain the complex webs of alliances that the nobility of the court thrived on. This also meant Cornelia was out of the running- she was fierce, intelligent, and bellicose, but her disdain for court politics was the stuff of legend.

Admittedly, Ashford couldn't help but agree with her- he had always preferred the simplicity of ledgers and trade to the delicate song and dance of the Britannian court, so Ashford was sailing back to Italy. He hoped his prince hadn't left on another one of his trips while Ashford was gone- not that he didn't appreciate Lelouch's industry.

* * *

Padua was a beautiful city, with bridges, plazas, and covered paths called arcades, and like so much of Italy, it was storied, and like many other towns in Italy it had history as a commune- a sort of partially democratic system in many cities, where they ran themselves in some ways. Many cities on the Peninsula had history as city states, and they had notable independent streaks.

Lelouch hoped to encourage a rosier view of that past; keep things like the contracts of mutual defense and history of trade, maybe drop the factionalism. City states were a different beast from a massive Italian government- even if it did have federal elements- but if or when relations with Britannia soured, he could draw upon a proud Italian history of resisting imperial authority, like the Lombard league who fought to push the Holy Roman Emperors out. At its height, the league consisted of massive portions of Northern Italy, from Genoa to Venice, and while it was something of a north Italian event, it was a good example.

There were stories like this in the south, too- the War of the Vespers, which resulted in the Anjou princes being kicked off of the island of Sicily, to be replaced by the Kings of Aragon in Spain. Admittedly, that wasn't a very good example- kicking out foreign influence only to fall under the control of someone else wasn't what he wanted, even if that was basically how Britannia came to rule Sicily after the people had grown discontent with France.

Euphemia seemed enthusiastic to test out her Italian language skills, even if Lelouch had to help her a little. Lelouch guided her through some basic pleasantries with the local rulers of the city before starting to talk business. He had to admit that he and his sisters made for a strange group; however, Lelouch imagined that no one wanted to question them and potentially disrespect the Viceroy of their country or his sister- the one with the sword, of course.

Afterwards they headed to Ferrara, another famed Italian city, and Lelouch had to wonder what they were going to do with all these castles. He might need to set aside funds to keep them maintained if they could manage it; they probably wouldn't be stopping cannonballs, but they were cultural artifacts. Hopefully, they could find some sort of use for them in the future considering that Lelouch couldn't live in several palaces at once. A few of them could serve as centers of local government (if they weren't already), he supposed.

Cornelia was interested in the castles and forts that dotted the country, and he had to admit she would be the expert on this sort of thing. She had seen the great forts of the Indian subcontinent, and played a large part in tearing several of them down. However, it was important to remember that every mote of information she gathered here might be turned against Lelouch, and while that could be said for a lot of people (Lelouch imagined Stadtfeld would turn and flee for the homeland the moment fighting broke out) she had the military expertise needed to really make a difference.

He supposed there was something fitting about traveling through Italy, seeing so many great seats of power that had once hosted famed states. Lelouch just hoped to be remembered as a leader of one of the longer lasting ones.

Creating a lasting state was quite difficult, understandably. Even then, all it took was one bad apple (or even just a mediocre one) to ruin generations of good leadership, like the Montefeltro family. The city of Urbino, which that family ruled for centuries, wasn't far from San Marino, actually. Urbino was one of the finest courts in all of Renaissance Europe, and a Duke Frederico ruled the state well during the time. A splendid palace towered above the city- not that there were any members of the Montefeltro family left to enjoy it. Frederico was followed by his son Guidobaldo, who died without issue, ending the line.

For every great dynasty, how many others crumpled? Just surviving the world was a feat on its own, much less rising to greatness. For every Britannian dynast or Bourbon ruling in splendor, imagine all the dynasties with only one or two adequate rulers before they descended into obscurity.

Lelouch knew that his current circumstances were thanks to a happy mix of his own skill and general good fortune on his part. All his military skill would have been nothing without an army to lead and a war to fight in, after all. What was it that the Roman senate said when Emperors were inaugurated? Be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan? Men could certainly rise to greatness during trying times- just look at Napoleon's rise to power. Still, even the greatest prince couldn't overcome all circumstances.

* * *

San Marino was old- it claimed descent from Saint Marinus (if the name didn't make that quite obvious), who founded a monastic community in the region- around AD 301. That was definitely a goal to shoot for when it came to a country's longevity, although perhaps the only reason they managed was because they were so tiny- the entire state could fit in the Venetian lagoon several times over.

Even then, the Republic had its rough spots: without a friendship between Napoleon and one of the city's Captain Regents, the state might have met its end, as so many did, at the hands of the French. Curiously, the little state was ruled by Captain Regents, plural: they had two heads of state, as the old Roman Republic did.

For Lelouch's purposes, that really meant two people trying to be nice to him instead of one, but it was still quite the curious state. It probably wouldn't have been a bad place to live, all things considered, but such a small state wouldn't give Lelouch the resources he needed to keep a hostile power at bay, so that wasn't an option, clearly.

A lot of his problems were ones of scale: sure, having more soldiers meant that Nunnally would be safer, it also meant a plethora of issues- some of which he could handle in the short term, some of which he couldn't. On the world stage, he was a much bigger player than little San Marino, and as such a much bigger potential threat to the other powers.

Still, the San Marinese were not a bad people, and Lelouch saw no reason to take action against them- it wouldn't be a particularly long war, but it wouldn't be a profitable one either. Why bleed for such a tiny microstate? There were certainly worse countries to share the peninsula with. The land east of the Piave (and the southern Tyrol, if you considered that land Italian) were under the Habsburgs, who were a little less friendly than San Marino was.

Independence would lead to the rather unfavorable position of being almost completely surrounded by potential enemies- except the Swiss, he supposed. Not counting any potential enemies from overseas, that meant Bourbons to the West and Hasburgs to the East- oh joy.

Defenses along the Piave and near the Alps would be his best measure to hold off the Danubians, and similar measures could taken upon the Alpine border with France. Preferably, Lelouch could finagle any potential conflicts into one front wars- he didn't envy fighting either of his major neighbors, much less both at the same time.

If Europe would let him, he would be happy to simply hide behind the Alps and tend to what he had, but considering how European politics were at the moment… he doubted things would be that easy.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Low Countries were going through their own issues- more particularly, those surrounding a disunity between the northern, Protestant portions of the country and the southern, Catholic regions, and they would eventually reach the point of no return.

The Belgians as a people were tied by Catholic religion more than anything- the Walloons of the south spoke a language that was much closer to French than the more Dutch dialects of the Flemings. Still, nations had been borne from less than a shared religious identity. Of course, states were not built in a day, neither Roman nor Belgian. After several years of grating interregnum, a few Belgian rabble-rousers had decided that enough was enough.

The first riots began during a play. It was not a particularly inflammatory play or even a patriotic one, but it did happen to be happen to be happening at a very specific time. The actors probably would have been very disappointed to see that a majority of their audience left during the intermission, but it also meant they weren't in the middle of a blooming riot.

Economic downturn, differences of religion, a dissatisfaction with foreign rule, even unrest from the effects of cholera… it all combined into a potent mix that exploded into violence. In other circumstances it could have even stayed that way; a single riot didn't mean the end of a state, of course, but even the smallest sparks could start a roaring revolutionary fire.

Manufactories were attacked and storefronts looted, and that was just the beginning; general discontent let revolutionary fervor spread like a plague into the countryside. Of course, the logical government response was a military crackdown; but there was a bit of a catch: who was doing the cracking down? While many of the officers may have been northern, especially in the southern Netherlands Dutch officers led majority Belgian soldiers. The results were predictable.

Of course, this outbreak of violence also led to quite a few problems in the States General to the north. Other than quite a bit of awkwardness with the Fleming and Walloon representatives, a decision was rapidly reached: one William of the House-Orange Nassau would take up his ancestor's position as ruler of the Netherlands- of course, he wasn't just sitting around in the country waiting for his coronation.

William had, to put it indelicately, fled for Britannia once the French had started to get too upset with him. You couldn't just summon a (now) King in exile from England on short notice, so that meant that until he arrived the States General would running the show- and trying to clamp down on the growing Belgian revolt.

However, as armies were slowly moved into position, the Belgians were preparing themselves for a fight even as they pushed out what garrisons remained in Brussels. Within a few days, the Dutch flag was replaced by a rather impromptu new one, a tricolore of black, yellow, and red.

* * *

In all honesty, there was not a tremendous difference in the livelihoods of most Italian farmers: they worked the land and let the rest of modern society function. An army without food was not a winning army, in the same way the starving artisan wouldn't stay producing for very long- all society was dependent upon the farmer, like it or not.

Of course, that meant that supporting the farmers was one of Lelouch's great obligations- it was more than just a matter of national security, it was a matter of national functioning. The farmers could certainly survive without Lelouch (even if they needed an army to protect them) but Lelouch couldn't do anything without farmers.

The fields were mostly filled with winter wheat- it was that time of year after all, even if the spring of 1828 was coming soon- and in time that wheat would be filling stomachs. As charming as those rolling hills might have been, Lelouch wanted Italy to become more than just a backwards, agricultural state- he wanted to export textiles and other manufactured goods.

In fact, he had already begun sending steam engines to the Barbary coast, along with experts to man them and help construct factories. As disturbing as the idea of pirates with steamships might have been, having economic partners in Africa, ones that exported economic goods instead of pirates would be better for everyone. It strengthened his position without giving off an imperialist look, and would hopefully keep the Beys from picking a fight with another power that would crush them flat.

Canning would definitely be nice for the army, but it would still be expensive- plus, Lelouch was a little uncomfortable with the solder. The Romans may have made their aqueduct pipes from the stuff, but it was dangerous- it was linked to the colic, sudden, abrupt pain in the body. He certainly didn't want to drink the stuff, or have it used to close off cans holding food, but it was some of the best solder they had.

Textiles and iron production were another obvious choice- you really couldn't get enough of either. The former in particular was closely tied to industrialization- and Lelouch was happy to see the technology spread far and wide. Other than the economic benefits, it meant would hopefully lead to Britannia loosing some of that incredible industrial lead.

Of course, Lelouch knew that Italy and the Barbary Coast weren't exactly as ready for industrialization as the home islands were, and it may have been completely impossible to catch up on an economic level to Britannia. He also didn't have a colonial empire to mercilessly exploit and provide tremendous amounts of raw materials to fuel his industry- hopefully, Italy and the lands of the Maghreb would provide enough resources.

Perhaps it was a bit strong to say they were his allies- if war broke out with Britannia, they honestly wouldn't be that much help. They had some warships that weren't pirate craft, but Lelouch didn't like the odds if they put Barbary corsairs up against Britannia's seasoned naval veterans.

His main potential ally in Europe was not a particularly strong one- you just couldn't raise too much of an army on Corsica. It made sense to build closer ties with that little island off Sardinia- they shared the Tyrrhenian Sea after all, and the native Corsican language was very similar to his own Italian. Even better, the Principality's independence would hopefully mean that Corsica wouldn't get too cozy with the French, even if they were ruled by the son of a French emperor.

Perhaps he should consider reaching an agreement with Bonaparte similar to the ones he had drawn up with the Barbary princes? Fostering closer ties with the princedom would be good, and it was a shame that Bonaparte was stuck wasting his time on the island- he was talented. Bringing the island under Italian sovereignty would be nice, and would give him the appearance of being not just a ruler of Italy, but ruler of the Italians.

The difference may have seemed small, but it gave a slightly different impression, a sort of accord with the people. Well, Louis XVI was forced to call himself King of the French by the revolution until he could no longer wear the crown (for rather obvious reasons). Styling himself as King of the Italians after independence might be read as challenge to other countries with Italian minorities- not that he expected wonderful relations with the Empire of the Danube, but still.

Admittedly, Lelouch was counting his chickens before they hatched, but taking Corsica under his wing would be an obvious choice. Before the French, Corsica had been ruled by the Genoese- perhaps it was time for a triumphant reunion, to see Sardinia and Corsica brought together under one rule.

* * *

Eventually, Lelouch and his sisters reached the city of Bari, which he had occupied once before during his conquest of Italy. It was still something of an economic center, and Lelouch couldn't help but feel a little pity for Murat, who worked hard for this city only to see it fall into Britannian hands (for now, at least).

Once again Lelouch was struck by the number of old castles and churches he had conquered- castles he certainly didn't plan on filling with nobility- but now he had the time to focus on the countryside and its people instead of just rushing to Venice like he was trying to smuggle St. Mark's corpse from Alexandria.

Cornelia didn't share his enthusiasm for the specifics of Italian history, but she seemed to think of this whole trip as something of a… sideshow.

Just talking with the average Italian proved itself valuable- it was very good for his reputation, after all. Showing the Italian people that he cared about them, cared about their opinions and wellbeing, was important- and just talking with them was one way of doing that; it also happened to be free, more importantly.

"Are the harvests good? Rather evidently, I'm not much of a farmer."

He was talking to a local farmer, who had adapted surprisingly well to talking with his Viceroy- he was still shooting glances at Jeremiah though, who stood imposingly behind Lelouch.

"Fair enough, your highness." The farmer shrugged, the rifle on a strap over his shoulder bobbing with his movements. "I've been doing some hunting, but we probably won't need it to make it through the winter."

Lelouch smiled. "Say, could you tell me where you get your powder? The army needs so much of it, after all."

"Mix it myself. The saltpeter comes from Molfetta, I think?" The farmer stroked his chin, apparently lost in thought, and Lelouch tried his best not to choke. Was there a saltpeter mine in Italy that he didn't know about?

* * *

True enough, a bit of questioning led him to a little town to the north of Bari called Molfetta, which had a massive sinkhole- it seemed nearly a hundred feet deep, its cavernous sides pockmarked with caverns. If Lelouch had to guess, some caves had collapsed, leading to the discovery of what could only be called a natural nitrary.

Apparently, it had been discovered quite some time ago, before the French had stormed in, back when the Bourbons still ruled in the region. Molfetta was such a massive source of saltpeter that the Kingdom could devote its resources to more useful things- why use manure to make saltpeter when it could be used as fertilizer?

Unsurprisingly, this particular natural feature was of interest to the French, but when Lelouch swept in he was too busy rushing around to investigate rumors about saltpeter caves. After that, he just never learned about it until he gone down and investigated in person- who would go rushing to their viceroy with news of a cave?

It was a very pleasant surprise to be sure, but Lelouch started wondering. What sort of other things were hidden away in his country that he didn't know about? Not just caves or other natural features, but the people. Lelouch was positive there was at least one Italian who probably wanted him dead- there was definitely a case to be made that he was just as much of a foreign oppressor as the French.

That certainly wasn't the impression that Lelouch wanted to give, and he hoped that the average man thought highly of him- this trip was intended to show the Italian people that he cared. He could never know everything about his state in the same way he could never truly know what was in the ground underneath his feet- but he could tend the land well, couldn't he?

Lelouch could faintly see processing facilities at the bottom of the open cavern, where men would have worked to process the saltpeter, which was so plentiful you could scrape it off the craggy rock walls. He could feel a smile on his face. "This is a pleasant surprise, isn't it?"

Cornelia's expression was stoic. "With this, you'll never have to worry about a blockade cutting Italy off from ammunition."

"Do you think we'll have need of it, big brother?" Nunnally was balanced on her horse, which Lelouch was carefully guiding far from the sinkhole's edge.

"Maybe, maybe not. Britannia is a strong country, one that the other powers would be hesitant to attack, but at the same time we can't have Italy looking weak, looking like a target."

Euphemia sighed. "So it's all just a bunch of saber rattling and posturing?"

Lelouch chuckled. "I suppose so. There's a certain value to the appearance of strength- or the illusion of it."

"The illusion of strength?"

"The enemy acts based on what they know, and if they think that we're in a position of strength, they're less likely to attack. Perfect information would be ideal- but impossible."

"That doesn't seem very honorable."

"Well, I'd rather win than be honorable in defeat. Subterfuge and deceit are just as much a part of war as bleeding and fighting- an ideal world would have neither, but this is not the best possible world, now is it?"

Euphemia frowned. "I suppose it makes sense- there's no reason not to use underhanded tactics, especially if the other person isn't. Stopping that sort of thing would only hurt you without necessarily stopping your enemy. It just seems so unfortunate."

* * *

Pietro had to admit that there was something very impressive about the towering peaks of the Alps, and their stationing nearby gave them all the time they needed to observe those peaks. They were just south of the Danubian Tyrol, a bit north of the city of Verona.

Prince Lelouch had ordered them to keep a careful eye on the Alps to the north- the passes through those great heights would be key in any future war. They had practiced with rifles and the strange, lightweight mortars the Prince had acquired for them, and admittedly they were much easier to move around than the heavier pieces.

Now the Prince himself… he was curious. Pietro had joined up with him at Milan- he had fought alongside the Sicilians there and couldn't help but follow along. He had heard rumors about the prince of Sicily… and while he was fairly charming and a good speaker, the man- no, the boy was a little young. And kind of dainty looking. Hell, Pietro had nearly thought he was an aide or squire for that man with the teal hair, Gottwald, at least at first. Still, the prince certainly seemed to have a leader's mind.

Now Pietro was no expert, but Lelouch seemed a fair commander, decisively defeating Bernadotte in Tuscany. That was definitely something- Lelouch had led them on something of a tour of the countryside, even if it wasn't very leisurely. It was strange to think of (most of) the peninsula as Italy- not a bunch of French puppet states, not a smattering of feuding princedoms, but Italy. Well, Britannian Italy, but still.

In a way, he felt Italian. Not Lombard, not Milanese… Italian. His unit was a diverse one- well, by Italian standards- boosted by recruits from all over the peninsula. The dialects were definitely a little off at first, but it wasn't much harder than understanding the occasional strange turn of phrase from the Prince when he addressed them. Plus, some of these men had fought off the French with him- nothing like defeating their foreign oppressors to bring everyone together, he supposed.

Technically, it could be argued that Britannia was oppressing them, but it certainly didn't feel like it- he had heard all sorts of horror stories about the Britannian royalty, their flagrant cruelty in the colonies… and maybe that was true, maybe it was French propaganda. The only Britannians Pietro had sat down to talk with were those volunteers from the Britannian islands- the Peat Gatherers, and they seemed like good folks. Of course, they were only here because they decided that fighting for Lelouch was better than staying home, so...

There were also the Viceroy's sisters, he supposed. Well, the oldest of them- Cornelia, was it? If that was what Britannian women looked like… _damn._ There were also the younger ones, but the Viceroy and Cornelia were very protective of their younger siblings- understandable, considering that one of them was blind and crippled. Not to mention the fact that the poor girl had to adapt to all that without her mother- it was tragic.

The Viceroy felt concrete in a way his father did not- their sovereign may have been Emperor Charles of the Holy Britannian Empire, but the average Italian knew more of the Viceroy. Pietro only knew the Emperor through French propaganda- printings depicting the Emperor as insatiable in every meaning of the word, with an endless desire for land, for wealth, for women… The man had 108 wives, which just seemed difficult on a logistical level to Pietro.

Pietro had been born and raised in an Italy under the French boot- the Britannian capture of Sicily had happened when he was a small child, but he remembered the news, if faintly. The Ravaging of Sicily- he had heard tales of rapine and slaughter, a Britannian army just over the strait of Messina… The French press made a rather on the nose comparison between Britannia ravaging Sicily and the Emperor's relation with his consort, Marianne.

The prince seemed exceedingly popular among his Sicilian soldiery, so it seemed like the Sicilian union with the Britannian crown was a little more voluntary than the French wanted them to think.

Some part of him wondered if he would be fighting for the prince in the future, and who he would be facing if he did. Peace for the rest of his days would be nice, but even if the French revolution had been brought to a halt, he couldn't help but feel that Europe was changed by it too deeply for things to ever be the same.

* * *

In time, news of revolution spread to the halls of power in Europe- Vienna, Paris, and Berlin, to name the most interested- and the question was quite simple: what to do? The immediate reaction to a violent revolution was to strangle it in the cradle before the ideological poison could spread.

Of course, other political concerns played a role: France was interested in promoting the independence of a Catholic state with cultural ties to themselves, and even if the Bourbons had been restored to power, the Empire of the Danube and the German states were uncomfortable with the French advancing their interests in the Low Countries- what if they integrated the fledgling Belgian state, or at least the Walloon portion?

At the same time Belgium could serve as a buffer state- and as long as it was a proper, monarchical state, was there really much reason to start another large war? Opinions across Europe were mixed, and it was clear that a proper decision should be made, and quickly.

Even as the Dutch fought to preserve the unity of their no longer United Provinces and the Belgians fought for independence and self determination, plans for a conference were under way. Of course, they couldn't predict how the Belgian situation would pan out when an appropriate meeting of diplomats could be established, it was the principle of the thing.

If the French had made anything clear, it was that the chaos and unrest caused by war was a terrible risk to the balance of power- wouldn't it be better if all the powers of Europe acted in concert, to guard their peace?

A peace built on bloody foundations perhaps, the gore and viscera staining the streets of Brussels, but it was clear that steps needed to be taken to protect the order of Europe.

* * *

Clovis vi Britannia had grown fairly fond of the Cape of Good Hope- it may have been far away from his family, and he missed his siblings greatly, but the great plateaus of southern Africa were splendid to see and a joy to paint. He liked to think that his palace complex was a great bastion of high culture in Africa, even if a fair amount of the colony's funds had to go to the military.

The Cape was a key spot on the trip to India, and as such it needed to be well maintained and secure, to resupply all the great trade ships that sailed by. The natives certainly weren't rivals for the great indigenous powers of India or Asia, but the Emperor had been very clear that keeping the natives at bay was their utmost priority- especially considering all the chaos going on around Natal.

Some native prince- Shaka of the Zulu, was it?- had revolutionized warfare in the region (well, it was revolutionary for the natives, nothing compared to proper Britannian arms and tactics) and this new style of fighting had spread rapidly as Shaka marched on the warpath. Any native lucky enough to escape that terrible prince's wrath would turn around and inflict the same violence on others who hadn't come into contact yet.

He was obligated to keep a careful eye on the situation, even if they had a tremendous advantage in technology. From what reports he heard… there was something off with Shaka recently. His mother had died recently, and he gone mad with grief- the reports got unreliable here, but it seemed like the prince of the Zulu was ordering executions and putting draconian restrictions in place out of sheer grief. Hopefully, someone more stable (and hopefully more pacifistic) would take the throne soon- someone would probably kill him off eventually.

Worrying about Shaka wouldn't get anything done, and he had generals to handle that if things ever got bad. Surely, no backwards natives could defeat even a fragment of the Britannian Empire's might. Clovis had more… interesting things to focus on, like his cupbearer.

She was a pretty thing with long black hair and brilliant blue eyes, a Britannian born and raised; while Clovis may have had a fondness for the Boer women trusting them with serving wine that could be potentially poisoned… that was a bit too far, and he had to agree with advisors on that. Nominally, cupbearers were supposed to serve wine and sometimes even taste it to check for poison, but their close proximity to the ruler meant that the role gathered… different implications in Clovis' court.

Clovis got to share wine with very pretty women, and they got the pleasure of his company and fair pay. What was there to complain about? He couldn't help but grin as his cupbearer took a long, deep swig, her face flushing red and her breathing getting heavier…

God, this was the life! He leaned in to start whispering sweet nothings- he had this down to a science by now- when he noticed that she had started to get woozy. She was such a slender little thing, seemed like she was a bit of a lightweight- it might have been a problem if he was actually paying her to test his wine.

He reached for a swig when the girl slumped over into his arms, her dark locks of hair spilling wildly. Clovis froze for a moment before carefully taking the cup and giving it a tenative sniff- it reeked of almonds. Clovis was no expert on poisoning, but even he understood that strange smells from your wine was not a good sign.

The girl in his arms wasn't breathing heavily because of passion or drink- she was dying of poison, and she had probably saved his life by serving as cupbearer. Clovis' voice broke through the din of the hall- "Physician! Get my physician!"

After a couple of moments of silence, someone rushed off to grab the physician, although Clovis knew with some dread certainty that the woman in his arms was going to be dead by the time help arrived. The jovial mood of the court had died down, replaced with silent shock. Someone had tried to murder the prince in his palace- and they had nearly succeeded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wikipedia Page of the day: List of shortest reigning monarchs. 15 minute any% speedrun lmao
> 
> Is Code Geass (the original) just the Last Samurai with mechs and magic eyeball powers?
> 
> This fic is slowly going to turn into Rick Steves' Europe while my back is turned I swear.
> 
> For anyone who's curious: to the swim the Tiber means to convert to Roman Catholicism. Macaroni is another interesting phrase- if you've ever listened to Yankee Doodle and wondered how the hell anyone confused feathers and pasta, basically it's a roundabout way of saying Americans are so low class they think a feather is high fashion.
> 
> The Belgian revolution seemed to have started during a play- a play first shown in February 1828. Was it shown in Brussels at that time? Idk. Still, I thought it was interesting. I'm trying to rhyme with history, if that makes sense.
> 
> I wasn't joking about the St. Mark thing either- a couple of Venetian merchants honestly tried to smuggle the (alleged) corpse of St. Mark to Venice. He was their patron saint, after all. They supposedly snuck it past Muslim officials by hiding it in a barrel with pork. Yeah.
> 
> History is weird, that's why I love it. Also, I swear I didn't know about the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom before writing this. A relatively liberal Italian island made puppet state of Britain ruled in personal union- the similarities are stunning.
> 
> Pietro serves to show what the military is doing, basically. I was considering naming him Giuseppe, but considering the story's theming… might cause some confusion with ol' Garibaldi, you know?


End file.
